
Treatise on Atonement 



lOSEA J3ALL0U 



Introduction by 



. A . Miner 



A 



TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



HOSEA BALLOU. 

\\ 

WITH 

AN INTRODUCTION BY Ai A. MINER. 



lot cosg* eM | 



FOURTH EDITION. 




a— ~- -s«r 



BOSTON: 

UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
1882. 



Copyright, 1882, 
By Universalist Publishing House. 



Boston Stereotype Foundry, 
No. 4 Pearl Street. 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 031440 



CONTENTS. 



Part I. — Of Sin. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Its Nature 39 

II. Its Origin 50 

III. Its Consequences ...... 79 



Part II. 
ATONEMENT FOR SIN. 

I. Erroneous Theories of Atonement . . 103 

II. Necessity of Atonement, and where 

Satisfaction must be made . . 141 

III. Character of the Mediator . . . 154 

IV. Nature of Atonement . . . . 163 



Part III. 

CONSEQUENCES OF ATONEMENT TO MANKIND. 

I. Their Universality 182 

II. Objections 193 

III. Reasons for Believing in Universal 

Reconciliation 228 



INTRODUCTION. 



BY REV. A. A. MINER, D.D. 



The issuing of another edition of this work furnishes 
an opportunity for directing attention to the remark- 
able character of the work itself, and of its distinguished 
author. To judge that character, the circumstances 
under which, and the condition of the public mind in 
the midst of which, the work was originally prejoared 
must be kept in view. 

The volume was issued a dozen years before the 
author's removal to the city of Boston. He was then 
a young man. Living remote from all the great 
literary centres, and discharging the duties of pastor 
of several united societies in Vermont, he travelled 
somewhat widely in that and other States, proclaiming 
the "glorious gospel of the blessed God" to crowds 
of anxious inquirers. This, however, was the less 
inconvenient for him as he was a man of few books, 
and the principal of these, the Bible, was the constant 
companion of his travels. 

It is at least an open question whether his lack of 
acquaintance with books was not one of the conditions 
of his originality and power. Certain it is that not a 
few men of his time, who had some glimpses of the 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



truth, and who had been trained in the schools, were 
altogether unable to break from their educational 
bonds. Books and teachers, regarded as servants, and 
welcomed as helps to truth, are well nigh invaluable ; 
but, regarded as authority, and allowed to dominate 
the soul, they bind the free spirit in hopeless error. 

No man ever entered upon his life work with a 
motive more single, or a purpose more sincere, than 
did our author. In the interpretation of the sacred 
Scriptures, to him, as they are to us, the priceless 
revelations of God, the query ever was, not what 
commentators have thought, not what the church in 
various ages has believed, but what the Scriptures 
themselves teach. 

In solving this problem, he ever sought to give the 
Scriptures a full hearing. Biblical expressions which 
w r ere made the catch phrases of the church, and the 
current imagery which was supposed to justify its 
smoking rhetoric, he never interpreted in a manner to 
violate fundamental principles of morality, or to 
dethrone common sense. Every biblical witness was 
cordially and reverently welcomed by him; but he 
felt called upon as an honest counsellor to cross- 
question the witness, interpreting one utterance in the 
light of another, that the witness himself might not be 
misunderstood, nor the great jury of human souls be 
led into error. It would be well for the church and 
the world, for Christianity and man's present salvation, 
were this biblical appetite restored, and were men 
encouraged to rely less on dogmatic speculations, and 
more on divine revelation. 



INTRODUCTION. 



7 



The writings of our author have done much to 
exhibit the simplicity of Christianity. The ethical and 
logical confusion of the expositions of Scripture 
current in his day, and to a large extent still current, 
seemed to him" an unpardonable folly, — unpardonable 
because the adoption of even a single principle of 
Christianity, rigidly followed and adhered to, would 
have made such folly impossible. Mr. Ballou believed 
what others only professed to believe. Misinterpreta- 
tions were swept away by the simplest statement of 
the divine character as easily as fog is dissipated by 
the risen sun. All Christians professed in words that 
"God is love"; our author believed it, and made it a 
premise in all Scripture exposition, and in all Christian 
reasonings. The infinite love of the Universal Father 
is the key with which he unlocked the treasury of 
heavenly blessings, resolved the mysteries of sacred 
rhetoric, and made clear the harmony of the utterances 
of the Holy Spirit. 

In these respects he was the pioneer of truth in these 
modern times. Since the apostolic age, and perhaps 
the two or three centuries immediately succeeding, to 
no man has Christian revelation exhibited its trans- 
parency and simplicity more fully than to our author. 
This is the more remarkable as he felt his own way. 
There were no schools of popular thought or inter- 
pretation to guide him or even aid him in his work. 
Those with whom he most closely affiliated in respect 
to the common destiny of the race, presented too much 
that was fanciful in conception and incongruous in 
interpretation, to be greatly serviceable to him in his 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



growth in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. 
It would be extravagant, of course, to assume that he 
fell into no errors of either philosophy or exegesis. 
This would be to assume that he was more than human. 
It will, however, be quite safe to aver that neither his 
philosophy nor exegesis ever marred the divine visage, 
or obstructed the trend of Scripture in regard to the 
triumph of good over evil. Xotwithstanding his 
adverse theological surroundings during his entire 
active career, he maintained the most complete mastery 
of himself even in his sharpest conflicts. Beset on every 
hand by the defenders of traditional barbarisms, he 
not only replied with a vigor of logic and an aptness 
of illustration that left him master of the situation, 
but he carried the war into Africa, routing the enemy, 
taking their strongholds, and inflicting an ignominious 
defeat. As usual with the discomfited, indignation was 
spontaneous and abounding. But whatever may have 
been thought at that time, the dispassionate critic of 
to-day will see no unwarranted severity in his writings. 
From dire necessity his tone was controversial; but 
his magnanimity and Christian courtesy were inex- 
haustible. Assailed on all sides, it cannot be thought 
strange if he did not always carefully measure the rod 
with which he chastised his assailants. Feeling, 
however, that he held the citadel, he could well afford 
to be patient, persevering, and calm. 

Driven to extremity, the defenders of the then 
current forms of faith resorted, as is usual in like 
cases, to calumny, detraction, and various alleged 
inferences from his writings, supposed to be damaging 



INTRODUCTION. 



9 



to their soundness, with a view to prejudice the public 
against both himself and his teachings. The calumny 
and detraction were never made to stick. But in the 
use of alleged prejudicial inferences his assailants may- 
be said to have been somewhat more successful. The 
strange fact about these supposed teachings is that not 
the members of other Christian bodies alone but many 
of the younger, and even some of the older members 
of our own body, apparently as ignorant of what 
he really did teach as they are of the Scripture 
authority on which he rested his teachings, continue 
even to this day, in these respects, to disparage his 
memory. While this may be justly attributed to a 
mere sectarian spirit, on the one hand, it is to be 
feared that an explanation no less dishonorable must 
be admitted on the other hand. There are some 
indications of an overweening anxiety to come into 
harmony with the modified thought of the past, even 
at the cost of sound biblical teaching and u clear 
thought." It turns the heads of some men to be told 
that they are " advanced thinkers." And when such 
cheap flattery is easily secured by vague disparagement 
of the fathers, the temptation is too great for a class 
of theologians who, whatever may be their age, are 
still in the gristle. 

One of the most vital and perhaps most calumnious 
of these misrepresentations referred to his views of 
sin. The teaching of his day made every man to have 
sinned in Adam, and to have come into the world 
weighted with evil and pre-doomed to woe. So far, 
too, from the sinner's career in sin being limited to 



10 



INTRODUCTION. 



this life, it was currently believed that if he left the 
world unrepentant an eternity of both sin and suffering 
awaited him beyond the grave. Against these views 
our author distinctly raised his voice. He rejected 
the assumption of pre-natal sin on the one hand, and 
of post-mortem sin on the other hand, maintaining 
that "sin begins and ends in the flesh." Seizing upon 
this chance form of expression, and wresting it en- 
tirely from its proper logical connections, sectarian 
zeal alleged that our author denied the proper moral 
relations of transgression, and claimed it as a mere 
incident of the flesh — an accident of the body — 
consequently having no existence apart from the body. 
Thus his teaching that the period of human sinfulness 
was the period during which man dwelt in the flesh, 
was perverted into a denial of the reality of sin 
itself. 

This perversion gained additional plausibility from 
the emphasis he laid on Rom. vi. 7, " For he that is 
dead is freed from sin ; " or as the revisers put it, " is 
justified from sin ; " or, again, as the American revisers 
have it, " is released from sin." The common thought 
could easily discover that if sin were an incident of the 
flesh, the dissolution of the body would be a deliver- 
ance from sin. It was an easy step now in this process 
of detraction to assert that our author looked upon 
death, rather than Christ, as the Saviour of the world. 
Might they not then safely charge that he held to a 
scheme of u death and glory?" Must he not believe 
in " instantaneous salvation " at death ? Is it not clear, 
therefore, that he believed that sinners went mime- 



INTRODUCTION. 



11 



diately to heaven in their sins? And what teaching, 
pray, could be more immoral than this ? 

Such detractors did not, of course, perceive the 
contradictory character of the inferences into which, 
not the positions of our author, whether they be true 
or false, but their own intemperate zeal had driven 
them. If death frees men from sin, it does not save 
them in sin. He that is dead may be freed from sin, and 
yet some other cause than death may free them. That 
cause may be entirely independent of death. Though 
following it chronologically, its character and action 
may be exclusively moral. Passing behind the veil, 
what before was doubtful may become clear; what 
before was dark may become light ; what before w^as 
distant and unseen may become near and manifest. 
Paul clearly enough teaches us that " death is the last 
enemy," and that "that shall be destroyed" (1 Cor. 
xv. 26). His contrasts of death with the resurrection 
leave no place for sin in the resurrection state. " It 
is sown in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption : it 
is sown in dishonor ; it is raised in glory : it is sown 
in weakness; it is raised in power" (1 Cor. xv. 42, 43). 
With Paul, to live was Christ ; to die was gain. To 
depart was to be with Christ (Phil. i. 21 and 23). He 
was confident that " if our earthly house of this taber- 
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an 
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
. . . For we that are in this tabernacle do m*oan bein^ 
burdened : not that we would be unclothed, but 
clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up 
of life" (2 Cor. v. 1 and 4). Very distinctly does he 



12 



INTRODUCTION. 



state the difference between this world of shadows and 
the coming world of light. " For we know in part, 
and we prophesy in part. But when that which is 
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be 
done away. . . . For now we see through a glass 
darkly ; but then face to face : now I know in part ; 
but then shall I know even as also I am known " 
(1 Cor. xfii. 9-10). Our author believed these teachings 
of Paul. Hence, not death, but truth ; not the dark 
hypotheses of human wisdom, but the glorious light of 
the divine presence, comes with saving power to men. 
John voiced this truth clearly in saying : " Beloved, 
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear 
what we shall be ; but we know that, when he shall 
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he 
is" (1 John iii. 2). And so our author sings: — 

" As night before the rays 
Of morning flees away, 
Sin shall retire before the blaze 
Of God's eternal day." 

— Church Harmonies, Hymn 386. 

It is plain that there is nothing in these views of 
our author, whether as regards the nature of sin, the 
necessity of salvation, or the divine influences by which 
it is effected, that distinguishes them from the known 
principles of the divine government in this present 
time. The Gospel is now the power of God unto 
present salvation to every one that believeth. It 
cannot be thought strange that the same light, love and 
truth that make the soul of that Gospel as it shines upon 
us here in the face of Jesus Christ, should reveal an 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



indefinitely greater power when hereafter they shall 
shine upon men from the unveiled face of the loving 
Father himself. 

In the light of these convictions of our author, his 
detractors have not a single inch of ground to stand 
upon. The phrases, "death and glory," "instan- 
taneous salvation," and the like, arc not his phrases, 
but theirs. No unchristian meaning can be thrust 
into them that can at the same time be made to attach 
to his teachings. The imputations they were employed 
to cast upon his doctrines, derived all their significance 
from the utterly erroneous assumption that those 
doctrines involved the salvation of men, not from^ but 
m, sin. Such imputations, however they may be 
excused as emanating from the ignorance of his 
enemies, admit of no excuse when made by his 
professed friends. 

The long-taught doctrine of the atonement, which 
this work especially controverts, was that Christ, the 
second person in the " blessed trinity," endured the 
" infinite penalty" due to man for the " infinite sin " 
committed by him in Adam, thus appeasing the 
" infinite wrath " provoked thereby in the breast of 
the first person in that same " blessed trinity " — in 
all of which man must believe, in this world, in order 
to be saved in the world to come. 

No matter that the infinite mercy of the second 
person in this " blessed trinity " is here arrayed 
against the " infinite wrath " of the first person ; no 
matter that this doctrine of a God provoked to-day 
and appeased to-morrow sets at naught the Scripture 



14 



INTRODUCTION. 



teaching that God is " without variableness or the 
shadow of turning " ; no matter that it involves the 
Pagan blasphemy that " infinite wrath " may be in a 
state of infinite blessedness — Christian divines saw in 
all this the very "balm of Gilead," the "bread of God 
that cometh down from heaven and nourisheth unto 
everlasting life." 

It was inconceivable to them that one teaching the 
heresies of this work could possibly be saved. That 
God so loved the world that He sent His Son to be its 
Saviour ; that God was in Christ reconciling the world 
to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them ; 
that Christ, having "tasted death for every man, 55 
"shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied" — 
the preaching of doctrines like these was "daubing 
with untempered mortar." Such preachers were 
deemed enemies of God and destroyers of men. 
Nevertheless, their word has prevailed. The old doc- 
trine is heard no more. A better mind has taken 
possession of the church. And though here and there 
a general is trying to collect his scattered forces into 
some midway camp, their guns are spiked and their 
flags are at half-mast. The Andover wail is the 
requiem of "Old Orthodoxy," and who that regards 
the logic of events will venture to say that it is 
not equally a prelude to the requiem of the "New ? " 

In regard to the doctrine of future retribution, it is 
gratifying to note the change of tone on all hands. 
Future and even endless retribution was presumed to 
wait upon the sins of this life. Now future punishment 
is predicated upon future sinning. Formerly much 



INTRODUCTION. 



15 



stress was laid upon the "pleasures of sin," as the 
church phrased it, and upon the righteous being 
compelled to " bear the heat and burden of the day." 
This inequality was supposed to demand future adjust- 
ment. At the present time, few have the hardihood 
to deny the efficiency of the divine law, the moral law 
included, in the present world, or to declare that the 
retributions they inflict are inadequate to the ends of 
moral justice. Formerly, future punishment was 
predicated mainly upon supposed Scripture authority ; 
now mainly upon the supposed authority of philosophy. 
It is now admitted that " the way of the transgressor 
is hard " in this world. It is practically conceded that 
justice may demand no further penalty in the world 
to come. If further penalty shall there be endured it 
will be for sins there committed. But that men will 
continue to be sinners in the next life, philosophy is 
supposed to demonstrate. 

The reasoning runs on this wise. Sin, oft repeated, 
grows into habit. Habit gives a certain fixedness to 
character. An evil energy thus comes to possess the 
sinner. By the momentum of character thus gained, 
the future is dominated. God does not banish the 
sinner ; but the sinner banishes himself. It is not that 
he could not obey if he would ; but such is the force 
of evil within him that he cannot will to obey. Every 
day of sin strengthens the habit, gives greater fixedness 
to character, and increases the energy that impels him 
on to evil. Such, it is said, is the nature of man. 
Such is the modifying power of evil upon him. Hence 
arises the inevitable continuance of sin and woe. 



16 



INTRODUCTION. 



This, in very brief, may be said to be the logic of 
modern Calvinism. On such a foundation, far more 
than upon the Scriptures, rests the temple of modern 
orthodoxy. Not a few accept the premises and follow 
the logic into the next world, but suppose that it may 
there be arrested, and after a time the onflowing of 
the stream may cease. The former maintain, after a 
fashion, the doctrine of ceaseless sin and woe. The 
latter ho}3e that sin may some time cease, and its woes 
consequently some time come to an end. 

Were these premises correct, and this sort of reason- 
ing entirely valid, the former conclusion, rather than 
the latter, would necessarily follow. All the consider- 
ations which are supposed to make it certain that sin 
and its consequent woes will continue for even a short 
time in the coming world, would, if valid, make it 
equally certain that they will continue for a long 
time. It is the force of habit, fixedness of character, 
momentum of evil, that is relied upon to make sure the 
continuance of sin for a short time. But the added 
sin for that short time intensifies still more the force 
of habit, increases still more the permanence of charac- 
ter, and imparts still more vigor to the energies of 
evil. If these were already such as to insure the 
continuance of sin for a month, or a year, or an age, 
the added power imparted during these periods 
respectively would insure its continuance for other 
months, other years, other ages ; and these again for 
increasing months, increasing years, increasing ages. 
This, it will be seen, is the logic not of simple con- 
tinuance, but rather of perpetual continuance. What- 



INTRODUCTION. 



17 



ever value such logic possesses inures to the service, 
not of a theology of hopefulness, but of a theology of 
despair. Not a few who accept the premises will 
nevertheless shrink from the conclusion. 

But are the premises sound ? It cannot be denied 
that there is grave difficulty lying on the very face of 
the problem. It is immaterial whether' we say men 
cannot obey, or say they cannot will to obey. Since 
both obedience and disobedience have their pivot in the 
will, inability to will is inability to obey. But inability 
to obey cannot be joined in the same person and at 
the same time with ability to disobey, that is, with 
ability to sin. He that cannot obey, cannot sin. Such 
a person is no longer moral. He has ceased to be an 
accountable being. Whatever other woes he may 
endure, he cannot suffer the condemnation of a free 
and responsible actor. Such philosophy, therefore, 
overthrows itself by proving too much. 

These premises virtually assume also that the cir- 
cumstances by which the sinner will be surrounded 
after death, are practically no more favorable to 
obedience than are those surrounding him in this 
world. But few persons will have the hardihood 
distinctly to affirm this. When death is reached, the 
futility of all schemes of evil must have become 
apparent. With the dissolution of the body, all 
temptations having their root in the body, or in 
sources immediately connected with the body, must 
cease. Its appetites, its passions, its lusts, of necessity 
die. All greed of gain for j>ossession, for luxury, for 
display, for ostentation, for vicious indulgence, or for 



18 



INTRODUCTION. 



the circumvention of others, will be at an end. On 
the other hand, the veil will have been rent away. 
The sinner will no longer look upon the transient and 
often deceptive appearances of things, but w T ill behold 
them in their abiding essence. He may look into the 
face of .the Father, and hear the compassionate voice 
of the Son bidding him "go and sin no more." That 
Father's hand may be tenderly laid upon the head of 
his wayward child as no hand had ever before been 
laid upon it; and the sight of the holiest, the most 
paternal, and the most loving of beings may touch 
that child's heart as it had never before been touched. 

Will it be said that obedience secured only by the 
removal of temptation is no virtue? My answer is, 
w r e frequently and wisely remove the transgressor in 
this world from the midst of those circumstances 
which continually solicit him to evil, that we may give 
potency to the influences which would draw him unto 
good. Deliverance from temptation is not itself 
reformation ; but it often makes reformation com- 
paratively easy. In like manner death removes the 
great body of our temptations. That done, the glowing 
light of eternity may open up the way to God, and 
make obedience easy. 

My final remark is, the premises themselves are not 
sound. Such elements of truth as are really involved 
are strained and overworked. Habit, at the worst, is 
an obstruction, not a domination. It may present 
barriers to achievement, but not insuperable ones. It 
creates facility in the accomplishment of what we will 
to do, but imposes no necessity upon the will itself. 



INTRODUCTION. 



19 



The accomplished pianist has established such habitual 
correlation of thought and function that facile execution 
is extremely easy, but by no means necessary. When 
the cry of her first babe falls upon the mother's ear 
the sound of the instrument is hushed. The pro- 
fane man, through long established habit, couples a 
thoughtless oath with almost every word; but bring 
him into the presence of the reverent and devout, and 
instantly all profanity is hushed. We might pursue 
these illustrations into all the more subtile realms of 
human activities, and the results would be found the 
same. 

It has been supposed that our author w T as unac- 
quainted w r ith the theological subtleties of modern 
thought. He was undoubtedly too w T ise to be carried 
away by them, but he was far from being unfamiliar 
with them. Accustomed during the last four years of 
his life to frequent seasons of protracted communion 
w T ith him, I was often surprised by his keen analysis 
of a philosophy which with many a shallow thinker 
dominated the Scriptures, and made the "word of God 
of none effect." How completely he bowed in rever- 
ence before the teachings of the Master, those who 
study his writings with open mind cannot fail to learn. 

In this edition, the work is for the first time divided 
into parts, subdivided into chapters, and supplied w r ith 
a table of contents. 

Boston, July 1, 1882. 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



Christian Reader, — I know it is frequently the 
case when a person takes a new work in hand, he 
first casts his eye over the title-page, and if he find no 
word on it that indicates perverse sentiments, and the 
name or denomination of the author be agreeable, he 
may think of having patience to read it; but being 
something in a hurry, passes slightly over the preface, 
supposing it to be of little consequence. But what 
sensations may have struck your mind, on reading the 
title of this book, and finding it to be the intention 
of the author to prove the doctrine of universal 
holiness and happiness, through the mediation and 
power of atoning grace, I cannot say ; how r ever, I 
would invite you to read, with candor and attention, 
not only this letter, but the w r hole of the work, and 
make up your judgment afterwards. 

Many circumstances might be mentioned which, 
in their association, have induced me to write and 
publish the following treatise ; but I can say, with 
propriety, that the central object was that in which 
I always find the most happiness; viz., to do what I 
find most necessary in order to render myself most 
useful to mankind, 

21 



22 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



I have, from my early youth, been much in the 
habit of inquiring into the things of religion and 
religious sentiments ; and have, for a number of 
years, seen, or thought I saw, great inconsistencies in 
what has, for a long time, passed for orthodoxy in 
divinity. 

The ideas that sin is infinite, and that it deserves 
an infinite punishment ; that the law transgressed is 
infinite, and inflicts an infinite penalty ; and that the 
great Jehovah took on himself a natural body of flesh 
and blood, and actually suffered death on a cross to 
satisfy his infinite justice, and thereby save his 
creatures from endless misery, are ideas which appear 
to me to be unfounded in the nature of reason, 
and unsupported by divine revelation. Such notions 
have, in my opinion, served to darken the human 
understanding and obscure the gospel of eternal life ; 
and have rendered, what I esteem as divine reve- 
lation, a subject of discredit to thousands, who, I 
believe, would never have condemned the Scrip- 
tures had it not been for those gross absurdities 
being contended for, and the Scriptures forced to 
bend to such significations. Christian authors and 
preachers have labored much to dissuade those whom 
they have caused to disbelieve the Christian religion 
from their infidelity. But, in this case, the salt has 
lost its savor, become good for nothing, and is trodden 
under foot of men, who are too sensible to believe the 
unreasonable dogmas imposed on the world, either 
through error or design, and sanctioned by tradition ; 
and too inattentive to search the Scriptures faith- 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



23 



fully and imjDartially whereby they might have learned 
that those errors were neither in them nor supported 
by them. One particular object, therefore, in this 
work is, if possible, to free the Scripture doctrine of 
atonement from those incumbrances which have done 
it so much injury; and open a door, at least, for the 
subject to be investigated on reasonable grounds, and 
by fair argument. 

If we admit that our Creator made us reasonable 
beings, we ought, of course, to believe that all the 
truth which is necessary for our belief is not only 
reasonable, but reducible to our understandings. 

In order to come at the subject of atonement so as 
to have light continually shining along the path which 
I intend to occupy, I found it necessary to show my 
reasons for not admitting the doctrine on the ground 
on which it is usually argued ; to do which, I found I 
must of necessity show that the common notion of the 
infinity of sin is unfounded in truth; and, of course, 
every consequence deducible from such an error, 
equally unfounded and unsupported. It may seem 
not a little strange to some of my readers that I dis- 
pute the infinity of the law against which sin is 
committed ; as all unholiness must be either in union 
or disunion with the eternal law of holiness and Divine 
purity. But if the reader will take a little pains to 
observe particularly, it will appear plain that no being 
can stand amenable to a law above his capacity. And 
as the creature is finite in his earthly character, in 
which character only he is, or can be a sinner, it 
is not reasonable to say that he stands amenable to an 



24 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



infinite law. But, as the reader will find in this work, 
so much of the Divine law of perfection as the creature 
obtains a knowledge of (which, in comparison to the 
whole, is no more than a shadow to a substance), is 
the law which he violates by his sin. And though we 
may speak of the sin of ignorance, it can amount to no 
more than the production of a virtuous intention 
thwarted by ignorance, or the same principle by which 
the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the 
fish of the sea, gratify their various inclinations and 
appetites. And I do not think my reader will wish to 
have me prove that such sin is not infinite. 

In my argument on the cause or origin of sin, 
I thought it necessary to hint a little on the general 
idea of the subject, endeavoring to show the want 
of propriety in what is commonly contended for ; and 
I have sought for the rise of unholy temptations in 
the constitutions of earthly and finite beings. I have 
endeavored, also, to trace the causes and consequences 
of sin (as sin) so as to determine the finite nature 
of all which belongs to sin as cause and consequence. 
In any sense in which it can be said that God is the 
author of anything whatever, in that sense of speaking 
it cannot be sin. And in any^sense in which any 
action or event can be said to be endless in its 
consequences, God must be considered the author 
of it. 

In all the statements which I have made of the 
doctrinal ideas of others, I have been careful to state 
no more than what I have read in authors, or heard 
contended for in preaching, or conversation ; and if I 



A LETTER TO THE READER, 



25 



have, in any instance, done those ideas any injustice, 
it was not intended. The reason why I have not 
quoted any author, or spoken of any denomination is, 
I have not felt it to be my duty nor inclination to 
write against any name or denomination in the world ; 
but my object has been, what I pray it ever may be, 
to contend against error wherever I find it ; and to 
receive truth, and support it, let it come from what 
quarter it may. For the sake of ease, however, in 
writing, I reasoned with my opponent, opposer, or 
objector, meaning no one in particular, but any one 
who uses the arguments, and states the objections 
which I have endeavored to answer. It is very prob- 
able that some may think me too ironical, and, in 
many instances, too severe, on what I call error. But 
I find it very difficult to expose error so as to be 
understood by all, without carrying, in many in- 
stances, my arguments in such a form as may not be 
agreeable to those who believe in what I wish to 
correct. I confess I should have been glad to have 
written, on all my inquiries, so as not to have dis- 
pleased any, but to have pleased all, could I have 
done it and accomplished my main design ; but this, 
I was persuaded, would be difficult. I have, there- 
fore, paid particular attention to nothing but my main 
object, depending on the goodness of my reader to 
pardon what may be disagreeable in manner or form 
as inadvertencies. 

What I have written on the subject of the Trinity 
is mainly to show the reader in what light I view the 
Mediator that my general ideas of atonement may be 



26 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



the easier understood. And though I think my objec- 
tions and arguments against the common idea of three 
distinct persons in the Godhead, who are equal in 
power and glory, to be unanswerable, yet it was not 
my intention to attend to a full refutation of those 
ideas, as I think that has frequently been done, and 
well done. 

The opposers of Universalism have generally written 
and contended against the doctrine under an entirely 
mistaken notion of it. They have endeavored to show 
the absurdity of believing that men could be received 
into the kingdom of glory and righteousness in their 
sins, which no Universalist ever believed. In this 
work I have endeavored to make as fair a statement 
of what I call Universalism as I was able ; and it 
stands on such ground that the propriety of it can no 
more be disputed than the propriety of universal 
holiness and reconciliation to God. Perhaps the reader 
will say he has read a number of authors on the doc- 
trine of Universalism, and finds considerable difference 
in their systems, That I acknowledge is true; but all 
agree in the main point, viz., that universal holiness 
and happiness is the great object of the Gospel plan. 
And as for the different ways in which individuals 
may believe this work will be done, it proves nothing 
against the main point ; but proves, what I wish could 
be proved concerning all other Christian denomina- 
tions, that they have set up no standard of their own 
to cause all to bow to, or be rejected as heretics. We 
feel our own imperfections; we wish for every one to 
seek, with all his might, after wisdom ; and let it be 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



27 



found where it may, or by whom it may, we humbly 
wish to have it brought to light that all may enjoy it; 
but do not feel authorized to condemn an honest 
inquirer after truth for wdiat he believes different 
from a majority of us. 

A few sentences, which the reader will find towards 
the close of this work, which have reference to a 
punishment after death, may cause him to desire more 
of my ideas on the subject. 

The doctrine of punishment after death has, by many 
able writers, been contended for; some of whom have 
argued such punishments to be endless, and others 
limited. But it appears to me that they have taken 
wrong ground who have endeavored to support the 
latter, as well as those who have labored to prove the 
former. They have both put great dependence on 
certain figurative and parabolical expressions, or pas- 
sages of Scripture, which they explain so as to cause 
them to allude to such an event. It appears to me 
that they have not sufficiently attended to the nature 
of sin so as to learn its punishment to be produced 
from a law of necessity and not a law of penalty. 
Had they seen this, they would also have seen that a 
perpetuity of punishment must be connected with an 
equal continuance of sin on the same principle that 
an effect is dependent on its cause. Who in the world 
would contend that a man who had sinned one year 
could expiate his guilt by sinning five more with 
greater turpitude of heart? State the punishment; 
say a thousand years for a sinner who dies in unbelief. 
What is it for ? Say for his incorrigibleness in this 



28 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



world. "Well, does he commit sin during these thou- 
sand years ? Surely, or he could not be miserable. 
Then I ask if it take a thousand years' punishment in 
another world to reward the sinner for, say fifty years 
of sin in this, how long must he be punished after- 
wards for the sin he commits during the thousand 
years? The punishment or sufferings which we en- 
dure in consequence of sin is not a dispensation of any 
penal law, but of the law of necessity, in which law, 
as long as a cause continues, it produces its effects. 
Therefore, to prove a man will suffer condemnation 
for sin, at thirty, forty, or fifty years of age, it would 
be necessary to prove that he w r ould be a sinner at 
that time, or those times. So, in order to prove that 
a man will be miserable after this mortal life is ended, 
it must first be proved that he will sin in the next 
state of existence. 

It has been argued by many that the doctrine of 
future punishment, or misery, is a necessary doctrine 
to dissuade men from committing sin, which surely 
surprises me. To tell a person who is in love of sin 
that if he does not immediately refrain he will have to 
continue in sin for a long time would be true, be-sure; 
but would be void of force to dissuade him from what 
he is in love with. I believe that as long as men sin 
they will be miserable, be that time longer or shorter ; 
and that as soon as they cease from sin, they begin to 
experience Divine enjoyment. 

The Scripture speaks of the times of the resti- 
tution of all things, but does not inform us of their 
number, or their duration. It also speaks of the ful- 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



29 



ness of times, but gives us no date, or the duration of 
them. 

I have not stated so many objections against the 
doctrine which I have labored to prove, as many of 
my readers may wish I had, nor so many as I should 
have been glad to, was it not for swelling the work 
to more of an expensive size. But I have stated, 
and endeavored to answer the most frequent objec- 
tions, and those on which my opposers put the most 
dependence; and I should have taken great satis- 
faction in communicating many more arguments, both 
from reason and Scripture, in favor of universal 
holiness and happiness, than I have was it not for the 
reason assigned in the other case. However, if those 
objections which I have taken notice of are answered 
to the reader's satisfaction, other Scriptures generally 
used as arguments against the salvation of all men, 
will not be hard to be understood as not unfavorable 
to the doctrine. And as for the proofs which I have 
deduced from Scripture and reason, I believe them 
entirely conclusive ; but if not, more of the same kind 
would not be. 

The reason I have not particularly explained those 
parables of the New Testament which I have had 
occasion to notice in this work is, my Notes, of which 
mention is made on the title-page of this book, are 
before the public, and contain my ideas on most of the 
parables spoken by Christ. 

A question may be asked by many, which has 
labored much in my mind, respecting the propriety 
of publishing books on Divinity, when we profess to 



30 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



believe in the book called the Bible, that it contains 
all which we mean to communicate as truth in matters 
of religion ; on which question I am determined for 
myself that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would have 
been better understood had the Bible been the only- 
book ever read on the subject. And though I doubt 
not but many authors have done great justice to those 
subjects on which they have written, and the light 
of the Scriptures have, by such means, been caused to 
shine ; yet, by others, it has been greatly obscured. 
And had one-half the attention been paid to the Bible 
which has been paid to those authors who have 
written upon it, it would, in my opinion, have been 
incomparably better for Christendom. But, on ac- 
count of errors imbibed in consequence of erroneous 
annotations, it may be argued that it is now necessary 
to write and publish correct sentiments by the same 
parity of reasoning as we argue the necessity of those 
means to restore health, which are not necessary to 
continue it. 

To the short exhortation with which the believer in 
Universalism will meet in this work, he is humbly 
invited to pay strict attention, as no faith, however 
true it may be, can be of any real service to the 
believer, unless it be accompanied with the sjDirit and 
life of that truth in which it is grounded. The greater 
the beauty of a person, the more lamentable his death. 
The more divinity there is in any faith, the greater is 
the pity it should not be alive. " As the body with- 
out the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead 
also." 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



31 



My brethren in the ministry will not think it as- 
suming that I have spoken of the necessity of our 
paying strict attention to the stewardship into which 
God by his grace hath put us ; as it was not written 
so much to instruct as to show the brethren my faith ; 
that they may see the ground on which I stand ; 
know the manner in which I contend for the faith 
once delivered to the saints ; and feel for me the same 
fellowship which I feel for them. You may regret 
that my ideas w r ere not more correct in many in- 
stances, and think the great subject on which I have 
written might have obtained better justice from some 
more experienced writer; in which you have the same 
ideas w T ith myself. But in this you may be satisfied 
that I have written, as I now think and believe, with- 
out leaning to the right or to the left, to please or 
displease. I have been often solicited to write and 
publish my general ideas on the Gospel, but have 
commonly observed to my friends that it might be 
attended with disagreeable consequences, as it is 
impossible to determine whether the ideas which we 
entertain at the present time are agreeable to those 
which we shall be under the necessity of adopting 
after we have had more experience ; and knowing, to 
my satisfaction, that authors are very liable to feel 
such an attachment to sentiments which they have 
openly avowed to the world, that their prejudice 
frequently obstructs their further acquisitions in the 
knowledge of the truth ; and even in cases of convic- 
tion, their own self-importance will keep them from 
acknowledging their mistakes. And having some 



32 A LETTER TO THE READER. 

knowledge of my own infirmities, I felt the necessity 
of precaution, which I have no reason to believe is, 
or has been, injurious. 

I have had, for some time, an intention to write 
a treatise on this subject, but thought of deferring it 
until more experience might enable me to perform it 
better, and leisure give me opportunity to be more 
particular. But the consideration of the uncertainty 
of life w T as one great stimulus to my undertaking it at 
this time, added to a possibility of living to be in- 
formed with what success it meets in the world, and of 
having an opportunity to correct whatever I might, in 
my future studies, find incorrect, were not the smallest 
causes of my undertaking it. 

It has often been said by the enemies of the doctrine 
for which I have contended, that it would do to live 
by but not to die by ; meaning that it would not give 
the mind satisfaction when sensible it was about to 
leave a mortal for an immortal state. As to the truth 
of the assertion, I cannot positively say ; that moment 
has not yet been experienced by me; and as those 
who make the remark have never believed the doc- 
trine, I cannot see how they should know any better 
than I do. Thus much I can say, I believe I have 
seen and often heard of persons rejoicing in the doc- 
trine in the last hours of their lives; but I do not 
build my faith on such grounds. The sorrows, or the 
joys of persons in their last moments, prove nothing 
to me of the truth of their general belief. A Jew, 
who despises the name of Christ, from the force of his 
education, may be filled with comfortable hopes in his 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



33 



last moments from the force of the same education. 
I have no doubt but a person may believe, or pretend 
to believe in the doctrine of universal salvation, when 
he knows of no solid reason for his belief, but has 
rather rested the matter on the judgment of those in 
whom he has placed more confidence than he has 
in reality on the Saviour of the world ; and I think it 
very possible that such Universalists may have strange 
and unexpected fears, when the near approach of 
death, or any other circumstance, should cause them to 
think more seriously on so weighty a subject. 

There must be a time, with all men, whose faith and 
confidence are placed in any thing short of divine 
mercy, that will be extremely trying; and all the 
education in the world cannot prevent it. 

What my feelings might be, concerning the doctrine 
which I believe, were I called to contemplate it on a 
death-bed, I am as unable to say as I am what I may 
think of it a year hence should I live and be in health. 
But I am satisfied, beyond a doubt, that if I live a year 
longer, and then find cause to give up my present 
belief, that I shall not feel a consciousness of having 
professed what I did not sincerely believe ; and were I 
called to leave the world and my writings in it, and at 
the last hour of my life should find I had erred, yet 
I am satisfied that I should possess the approbation of 
a good conscience in all I have written. 

Therefore, though sensible of my imperfections, yet 
enjoying great consolation in believing the doctrine 
for which I have argued in the following work, and in 
the enjoyment of a good conscience, I submit the fol- 



34 



A LETTER TO THE READER. 



lowing pages to a generous and candid public, praying 
for the blessing of the God whom I serve on the feeble 
endeavors of the most unworthy whom he hath called 
as a servant of all men. 

The Author. 



A LETTEE FEOM THE AUTHOE 



TO THE 

Publishers of the Third Edition. 



Boston, January 2, 1827. 

Dear Slr, — In reply to yours of the 23d ult., I will 
say that I am glad that another edition of the Treatise 
on Atonement is to be given to the public, though I 
regret that I could not have an opportunity to give the 
work a general revision. 

I do not wish, by any means, to retract any of the 
general or leading sentiments which are maintained in 
that work, although more than twenty years have 
elapsed since I wrote it and first sent it abroad in the 
world. But there are some minor ideas and some 
particular applications of certain passages of Scripture 
which, undoubtedly, would receive some modifications 
were I to revise the whole. 

Though I remain entirely satisfied that according to 
the theme of divine revelation, the whole race of man is 
destined to a state of immortality, which state will par- 
take of perfect holiness and happiness, I am not certain 
that I have not, in my Treatise, indicated something 
in relation to man's first creation, previous to his for- 
mation, which is not clearly supported by Scripture. 



36 



A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR. 



And yet I am not able fully to account for the fol- 
lowing reading unless something like what I have 
suggested be true. (See Gen. ii. 4, 5, 6, 7.) " These 
are the generations of the heavens, and of the earth, 
when they were created ; in the day that the Lord 
God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant 
of the field, before it was in the earth, and every 
herb of the field before it grew : for the Lord God 
had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there 
was not a man to till the ground. But there went up 
a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face 
of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the 
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of life ; and man became a living soul." It 
seems that every plant and every herb, as w r ell as man, 
were created before they grew, or appeared in form as 
now beheld. 

What I have alluded to in the Treatise is found on 
the 35th page. 

On page 123, I say, " It is plain to me, from Scrip- 
ture, that the Mediator is the first human soul which 
was created, etc." These passages which I understood 
to favor this opinion, I now believe have reference to 
the new creation or new order of things brought about 
by the Gospel dispensation. It is, however, to be 
understood that I now as fully believe in the entire 
dependence of Christ on God as w T hen I wrote the 
Treatise. 

When I wrote this w T ork on Atonement I was 
strongly inclined to believe that the Scriptures did 
not teach that either sin or its punishment would exist 



A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR. 



37 



in man's future state, but my conviction of that fact 
was then by no means so strong as it now is. I men- 
tion this as a reason why the reader finds, in several 
passages of this book, expressions which seem to allow 
that sin and its corresponding miseries may exist out 
of a state of flesh and blood. 

I wish furthermore to observe, that I am now appre- 
hensive, that in the use of some passages which speak 
of fire, I may have applied them to the refining and 
purifying of men, in cases wherein their proper use 
applied to the destruction of the Jews, and to the 
sufferings which the Saviour foretold would come on 
that people. 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



Part I. — Of Sin. 



CHAPTER I. 

ITS NATURE. 

In this Treatise on Atonement, I shall confine myself 
to three general inquiries : I. Of Sin ; II. Of Atone- 
ment for Sin; III. Of the Consequences of Atonement 
to Mankind. These particulars may be represented 
by a disorder ; the remedy for the disorder, and the 
health enjoyed in consequence of a cure. 

I. Of sin, which for the sake of ease, I subdivided 
as follows : 1. Its nature ; 2. Its cause ; 3. Its effects. 

1. Of the nature of sin. Sin is the violation of a 
law which exists in the mind, which law is the imper- 
fect knowledge men have of moral good. This law is 
transgressed, whenever, by the influence of tempta- 
tion, a good understanding yields to a contrary choice. 
Where a law exists, it presupposes a legislature whose 
intention in legislation must be thwarted, in order for 
the law to take cognizance of sin. This legislature, in 
all moral accountable beings, is a capacity to under- 
stand, connected with the causes and means of knowl- 
edge, which standing or existing on finite or limited 
principles, will justify my supposition, that sin, in its 

39 



40 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



nature, ought to be considered finite and limited, 
rather than infinite and unlimited, as has, by many, 
been supposed. 

By offering my reasons against the infinity of sin, 
I shall open to an easy method of showing it to be 
finite. The supposition that sin is infinite, is sup- 
ported, or rather pretended to be supported, on the 
consideration of its being committed against an infinite 
law, which is produced by an infinite legislature, who 
is God himself. I have before observed, and I think 
justly, that the intention of a legislature, in legis- 
lation, must be thwarted, in order for the law to take 
cognizance of sin. Xow if God, in a direct sense 
of speaking, be the legislator of the law which is 
thwarted by transgression, in the same direct sense of 
speaking, his intentions in legislation are thwarted. 
With eyes open, the reader cannot but see, that if sin 
be infinite because it is committed against an infinite 
law, whose author is God, the design of Deity must be 
abortive; to suppose which, brings a cloud of dark- 
ness over the mind, as intense as the supposition is 
erroneous. It cannot with any propriety be supposed, 
that any rational being can have an intention contrary 
to the knowledge which he possesses. Were a resolve 
brought into the State Legislature to be passed into 
an act, it would be very unlikely to succeed, providing 
the legislature knew that the intention of the act 
would utterly fail. It is possible, and very frequently 
the case, that imperfect beings desire contrary to their 
knowledge ; but this, in every instance is proof and 
often the cause of their misery. In such cases, mis- 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 41 

• 

ery rises to the exact proportion to the strength of 
desire. Now to reason justly, we must conclude, that 
if God possess infinite wisdom, he could never intend 
anything to take place, or be, that will not take place, 
or be ; nor that which is, or will be, not to be, at the 
time when it is. And it must be considered erroneous 
to suppose that the Allwise ever desired anything to 
take place, which by his wisdom, he knew would not ; 
as such a supposition must in effect, suppose a degree 
of misery in the eternal mind equal to the strength of 
his fruitless desire ! Were this the case, all the misery 
to which mortals are subject, bears not the thousandth 
part of the proportion to the miseries of the Divine 
Being, as the smallest imaginable atom does to the 
weight of the ponderous globe ; providing, at the same 
time, the idea of infinity is attached to Deity ! Again, 
if we admit of a disappointment to the Supreme 
Being, even in the smallest matter of consideration, it 
follows, that we have no satisfactory evidence whereby 
to prove that anything, at present, in the whole uni- 
verse, is as the Supreme intended. All the harmonies 
of nature, which to the eye of wondering man, are so 
convincing of the existence of that power, wisdom and 
goodness which he adores, may have continued their 
laws in active force much longer than God intended ; 
brought into existence millions of beings more than 
were contemplated in creation ; and by this time 
become a perfect nuisance to the general plan of the 
Almighty. The admission of the error refuted, would 
sink the mind to the nether parts of moral depravity, 
where darkness reigns with all its horrors. 



42 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

The above arguments are introduced to show the 
absurdity of admitting a violation of the intention of 
the Supreme Legislator. 

I now turn on the other side, and admit as a fact, 
what I have sufficiently refuted, viz., that the inten- 
tions of God as a Supreme Legislator are violated by 
the sin of finite beings ; but must beg leave to inform 
the reader that the proposition will, by no means, 
afford the intended consequences; but yields me an 
argument in favor of the finite nature of sin, which 
I do not want, and of which I shall make no other use 
than to explode the proposition itself. If any inten- 
tion of Deity were ever thwarted, it proves, without 
evasion, that he is not infinite ; if so, his will, or in- 
tention, cannot be infinite ; and, therefore, the conse- 
quences intended by the proposition are forever lost, 
as they exist only upon the supposition of his being 
infinite. If it be argued, that the intentions of Deity, 
as a legislator, are violated, not strictly in an infinite 
sense, but in some subordinate degree, it is giving up 
the ground contended for, to all intents ; for, if the 
intention violated be not infinite, the sin of violating 
it, cannot be infinite. 

Again, if sin be infinite and unlimited, it cannot be 
superseded by any principle or being in the universe ; 
for goodness cannot be more than infinite, neither is 
there a degree for Deity to occupy above it. And it 
may be further argued, that the admission of the error 
refuted, would be a denial of any Supreme Being in 
the universe ; for, as Deity does not supersede sin, he 
cannot be superior to that which is equal to himself. 



\ 

A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 43 

Again, I further inquire, can that be considered as 
an infinite evil, which is limited in its consequences ? 
The answer must be in the negative. If sin be an 
infinite evil, and infinite in its consequences as an evil, 
not only all created beings must suffer endlessly by it, 
God himself can never cease to experience the tor- 
ment-giving power of that which he is unable to 
avoid ; I say more, if sin be infinite and unlimited, for 
it must be unlimited, if it be infinite, it follows that 
there is no such principle in the universe, as any 
one property which we are wont to attribute to the 
Almighty ; for, if once we admit a principle of divine 
justice to have an existence, it is granted that sin is 
bounded by it, and therefore cannot be infinite; and it 
is a fact that sin can nowhere exist, only where it can 
be compared with justice. Again, it ought not to be 
supposed that the intentions of Deity were ever 
violated, if we admit, at the same time, that he had 
power to avoid such violation. And who, in their 
senses, will say, that that which is unavoidable by 
God, is unavoidable by man ? 

Enough, undoubtedly, is said, to show the egregious 
mistake of supposing sin to be infinite; and more need 
not be written on the subject were it not by some con- 
tended, that Job xxii. 5, is in full proof of the infinity 
of sin. "Is not thy wickedness great? and thine 
iniquities infinite ? " In answer to this passage, I need 
only turn the reader to chap. xlii. 7, "And it was so, 
that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, 
the Lord said unto Eliphaz the Timnite, my wrath is 
kindled against thee, and against thy two friends, for 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as 
my servant Jacob hath.*' Observe, kind reader, the 
words which are brought to prove the infinity of sin, 
are neither the words of God, nor of one whom he 
appro veil ; but they are the words of that Timnite, 
against whom God's anger was kindled, for not 
speaking the thing that was rigbt. 

Once more, and I close this part of my query : 
If sin be infinite in its nature, there can be no one sin 
greater than another. The smallest offence against 
the good of society is equal to blasphemy against the 
Holy Ghost. If what we call a small crime be not 
infinite, the greatest cannot be, providing there is any 
proportion between the great and the small. Are not 
the words of Christ (Matt. xii. 31), where he speaks 
of sins and blasphemies that should be forgiven unto 
men, and of blasphemies that should not be forgiven 
men, a sufficient evidence that some sins are more 
heinous than others ? Again (1 Epistle of John v. 16), 
where some sins are said to be not unto death, and 
some unto death, etc. 

Xow, admitting the matter proved, that sin is not 
infinite, it follows, of course, that it is proved to be 
finite. However, we will now attend to the direct 
evidences of the finite nature of sin. 

The law which takes cognizance of sin is not 
infinite, it being produced by the legislature which I 
have before noticed, viz., a capacity to understand, 
connected with the causes and means of knowledge. 
In order for a law to be infinite, the legislature must 
be so; but man's ability to understand is finite, and all 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



45 



the means which are in his power for the acquisition 
of knowledge are finite ; all his knowledge is circum- 
scribed, and the law produced by such causes must 
be like them, not infinite but finite. An infinite law 
would be far above the capacity of a finite being, and 
it would be unreasonable to suppose man amenable to 
a law above his capacity. All our knowledge of good 
and evil is obtained by comparison. We call an 
action evil by comparing it with one which we call 
good. Were it in our power to embrace all the con- 
sequences that are connected with our actions in our 
intentions, our meanings would seldom be what they 
now are. Had it been so with the brethren of Joseph, 
when they sold him to the Ishmaelites, that they then 
knew all the consequences which would attend the 
event, they would not have meant it, as they did, for 
evil, but seeing with perfectly unbeclouded eyes their 
own salvation, and that of the whole family of 
promise, they would have meant it for good, as did 
the Almighty who superintended the affair. Now the 
act of selling Joseph was sin, in the meaning of those 
who sold him ; but it was finite, considered as sin, for 
it was bounded by the narrowness of their under- 
standings, limited by their ignorance, and circum- 
scribed by the w T isdom and goodness of him who 
meant it for good. If this sin had been infinite, 

/ nothing we can justly call good, could have been the 
consequence ; but who ever read the event without 

\ seeing that the best of consequences were connected 
X^with it ? 

The promised seed, in whom all the families of the 



46 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



earth are to be blessed, according to the word of 
promise to Abraham, was to descend from that family 
which was preserved through seven years of famine, 
as a consequence of the good intended in that event. 
And who but God can comprehend the infinite good 
contained in all the glorious plan of mediatorial grace? 
We then see, that what in a limited sense, we may 
justly call sin, or evil, in an unlimited sense is justly 
called good. We say, of the top of yonder mountain, 
it is exceedingly high; and of yonder valley, it is 
low; and this we justly say, by comparing one with 
the other, in respect to the centre of our earth. 
But the moment we extend our thoughts to contem- 
plate the millions of worlds in unbounded space, and 
take the whole in one grand system, the idea of high 
and low is lost. So is sin finished, when, by divine 
grace, our understandings are enlightened, and we 
hear our spiritual Joseph say, " Grieve not yourselves ; 
ye meant it unto evil, but God meant it unto good." 
It will be granted, on all sides, that no action uncon- 
nected with design ought to be considered sin ; it is 
then an evil intention that constitutes an evil action. 
For instance, a man exerting himself to the utmost 
of his abilities to save the life of his neighbor, acci- 
dentally takes his life, the consequence is not the guilt 
of murder, but heart-aching grief for the loss of his 
friend. Again, a man exerting himself with all his 
ingenuity and strength to take the life of his neighbor, 
misses his intention and saves his life from immediate 
danger; the consequence is not the approbation of a 
good conscience for having saved the life of his 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



47 



neighbor, but condemnation for having designed his 
death, and perhaps mortification in his disappoint- 
ment. By these instances, the reader may see, that 
no act can be determined to be morally good, or evil, 
by the consequences which follow, but only by the 
disposition, or intention, which the actor possesses 
when the act is done. Then, in order for the sin to be 
infinite, the intention of the transgressor must be 
infinite, embracing all the consequences that can ever 
arise from what he does; but this is never the case 
with finite beings. We never know all the effects or 
consequences that will be produced from the smallest 
of those acts which we do in time. It is the imme- 
diate consequences which we have in our power to 
calculate upon, and in them we are often deceived. 
Our acts as moral accountable^ are all limited to the 
narrow circle of our understanding; therefore our 
goodness is limited, being of the finite nature of our 
knowledge, and our sin is in the same finite and 
limited circle. It may be argued very justly, that as 
no finite cause can produce an infinite effect, no finite 
creature can commit an infinite sin ; and as every 
effect must stand in relation to its cause, so man being 
finite, cannot be the cause of an evil which does not 
stand in relation to man the finite cause. Should the 
reader suppose, that my admitting the act of selling 
Joseph was attended with unlimited consequences, in 
opposition to my sentiment wherein I limit all actions 
which originate in finite causes ; I reply, as the act of 
selling Joseph respected the purpose of Deity, and the 
plan of grace, those who sold him do not stand as 



48 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



even the shadow of a cause, but only as instruments, 
by which God effected his own divine and gracious 
purpose. Perhaps the reader, by this time, is ready to 
say, according to this reasoning, there can be no such 
things as roal evil in the universe. If, by real evil, be 
meant something that ought not to be, in respect to 
all the consequences which attend it, I cannot admit 
of its existence ; for I cannot conceive of any pro- 
ductive cause whatever, that can be, strictly speaking, 
limited in its consequences. For instance, the first 
transgression of man, no one can suppose, has ceased 
in its consequences ; for, from that cause, the knowl- 
edge of good and evil exists in moral beings, and 
when the effects of that knowledge will cease, I cannot 
imagine. If it be objected, that to call that a sin 
which produces an infinite continuance of good effects, 
must be absurd; I say, in reply, the objection comes 
too late; for it is already proved, that the conse- 
quences of an act do not determine whether the act be 
good or evil. 

I have, in the foregoing queries, spoken of that 
kind of sin which is productive of remorse; however, 
we read, be sure, of the sin of ignorance (see Num. 
xv. 27, etc.) ; but this I conceive to be more of a legal 
than of a moral nature, and it is sometimes called 
error ; it is in a thousand instances productive of 
sorrow and disappointment, but never of guilt. If we 
consider the Jews under this law, or the Gentiles, 
who, the apostles says, were a law unto themselves, 
we shall find them exposed to guilt, on the same 
principles. Therefore, moral transgression must vary, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



49 



as the knowledge and understanding of men vary, in 
various circumstances. 

If it be thought by the reader, that I have passed 
over the spirit of the law, which is love to God in 
a superlative degree, and an esteem for our neighbors 
equal to that which we have for ourselves ; I answer, 
I have not altogether passed by it.' This law of divine 
love is that infinite law of perfection, which is higher 
than our capacities extend, in a finite state. The law 
given to Israel, literally speaking, was only a shadow 
of the spirit of love ; and all our knowledge of moral 
holiness is but a faint resemblance of that sublime 
rectitude from which the most upright of the sons of 
men are at a great distance. 



CHAPTER II. 



ITS ORIGIN. 

Having hinted so much on the nature of sin as to 
make the subject plain to the reader's understand- 
ing, I will now pass to an inquiry into its cause, or 
origin. 

■ The origin of sin has, among Christians in general, 
been very easily accounted for ; but in a way, I must 
confess, that never gave me any satisfaction, since I 
came to think for myself on subjects of this nature. 
A short chimerical story of the bard, Milton, has 
given perfect satisfaction to millions, respecting the 
introduction of moral evil into the moral system 
which we occupy. The substance of the account is : 
Some time before the creation of man, the Almighty 
created multitudes of spiritual beings, called angels. 
Some of these creatures of God were much higher in 
dignity and authority than others, but all perfectly 
destitute of sin, or moral turpitude. One dignified 
above all the rest, stood Prime Minister of the 
Almighty, clothed with the highest missive power, 
and clad with garments of primeval light ; obsequious 
to nothing but the high behest of his Creator, he 
discharged the functions of his office w r ith promptitude 
and dignity, suited to the eminence of his station, and 
to the admiration of celestial millions. But when it 
pleased Jehovah to reveal the brightness of his glory 
and the image of the Godhead in humanity, he gave 

50 



I 

A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 51 

forth the command (see Psalm xcvii. 7), "Worship 
him, all ye gods." And (Heb. i. 6), "And again, 
when he bringeth the first begotten into the world, he 
saith, and let all the angels of God worship him." 
Lucifer, Son of the Morning (as Christians have called 
him), surprised at the idea of worshipping any being 
but God himself, looked on the Son w^ith ineffable 
disdain, and in a moment grew indignant, brushed 
his strongest pinions, and waved his wings for the 
throne of God, challenged supremacy with the Al- 
mighty, and cast his eye to the sides of the north as a 
suitable place to establish his empire. Legions of 
spirits followed this chief in rebellion, and formed a 
dangerous party in the kingdom of the Almighty. 
The Son of God was invested with full pow r er as 
Generalissimo of Heaven, to command the remaining 
forces, against the common enemy. And in short, 
after many grievous battles between armies of con- 
tending spirits, where life could not, in the least, be 
exposed, Lucifer and his party were driven out of 
Heaven, leaving it in peace, though in a great measure, 
depojDulated ! 

God having created *the earth, and placed the first 
man and woman in a most happy situation of inno- 
cence and moral purity, without the smallest appetite 
for sin, or propensity to evil, the arch Apostate 
enviously looked from his fiery prison, to which he 
was consigned by the command of the Almighty, and 
beholding man placed in so happy a situation, and in 
a capacity to increase to infinite multitudes, by which 
the kingdom of Heaven would be enlarged, was deter- 



52 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

mined to crop this tree in the bud. He, therefore, 
turns into a serpent, goes to the woman and beguiles 
her, gets her to eat of a fruit which God had for- 
bidden, by which means he introduced sin into our 
system. 

I have not been particular in this sketch, but it 
contains the essence of the common idea. I shall now 
put it under examination, looking diligently for the 
propriety of accounting for the origin of moral evil in 
this way. 

And first, of this memorable rebellion in heaven ! 
It seems that this rebel angel was always obedient 
to the commands of his Maker, until the hour of his 
fall; that there was not the least spot of pollution 
in him, until he felt the emotions of pride, which 
lifted him above submission to the Son of God. This 
being the case, I ask, was this angel ignorant of the 
real character of the Son, whom he was commanded 
to worship ? If he were not, but knew it to be 
no other than the true Eternal, his Creator, mani- 
fested in a nature which Jehovah created ; if he loved 
his Maker as he ought to do, which none will pretend 
to dispute; he would have worshipped him with due 
reverence, the moment he made the discovery and 
command: this no person in his senses will dispute. 
If he did not know the real character whom he was 
commanded to worship, had he complied, he would 
have worshipped he knew not what. And nothing 
can be more absurd than to suppose that infinite 
wisdom would command his creatures to worship igno- 
rantly. I ask, further, could purity produce impurity; 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



53 



or moral holiness, unholiness ? All answer, no. Was 
not the angel holy in every faculty ? Was not the 
command, for him to worship the Son, holy and 
just? All answer, yes. Then from such causes, how 
was sin produced? The reader will easily see the 
question cannot be answered. Now, reader, be so 
kind as to turn to the scripture, to which I have 
referred you on this subject, and see if we have any 
authority for saying, that either gods or angels refused 
to worship when commanded. " Again, when he 
bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he 
saith, let all the angels of God worship him." That 
this first begotten is Christ, no doubt will be enter- 
tained. But when was he brought into the world, 
before or since the first transgression of man ? Since, 
most certainly. Then, supposing millions of angels had 
sinned at that time, it could have had no consequence 
productive of man's trangression, as a cause cannot be 
posterior to its effects. Therefore, to suppose that 
those angels who never sinned until long after man 
became a transgressor, were the instigators of what is 
called the fall, discovers a want of calculation. And 
further, what authority have we for believing that the 
command was disobeyed ? We find nothing con- 
nected with either passage, viz., that in Psalms or 
that in Hebrews, which intimates a refusal among the 
gods, or angels. And I see no need of supposing, 
that by gods, in one text, or by angels in the other, 
any other beings are intended than men. In respect 
to the command for all the gods to worship him, 
I observe, " they were called gods to whom the word 



54 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



of God came, and the scriptures cannot be broken." 
And the command, for all the angels of God to 
worship, stands on this proper ground ; by angels, are 
meant messengers, who are employed by God, for the 
information of their fellow-men ; but as all those 
messengers, or ministers, were inferior to the "Mes- 
senger of the covenant," whom the Lord promised to 
send unto Jerusalem, it was suitable to show his 
superiority, by giving such a token, in the scriptures, 
as commanding all the angels to worship him. There 
is another passage in Isaiah xiv. 12, etc. : " How art 
thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the 
Morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, 
which didst weaken the nations ! for thou hast said in 
thine heart, I will ascend unto heaven ; I will exalt 
my throne above the stars of God ; I will sit also 
upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the 
north," etc. 

" Here," I have been told, " we have a particular 
account of the sin which Satan committed in Heaven." 
But as there is nothing in this passage, or its con- 
nections, that has reference to any other creature 
or being, as Lucifer, Son of the Morning, than the 
King of Babylon, I shall say but little upon it. 
Observe, the question is asked, How art thou fallen 
from Heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the Morning? How 
art thou cut down to the ground, who didst weaken 
the nations? This Lucifer weakened the nations be- 
fore he fell, but was unable to weaken them after- 
wards. He said in his heart he would ascend unto 
Heaven. Was this the sin of Satan, as is generally 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT . 



55 



supposed? Was he not already in Heaven? How 
then could he say in his heart, I will ascend unto 
Heaven ? I will not trouble the reader with anything 
so vague as the vulgar application of this scripture, 
only enough to show that it had no such meaning. 
The King of Babylon is pointed out, in this prophecy, 
as exalting his throne above the stars of God, which, 
in a figurative sense, undoubtedly meant his exalting 
himself by the reduction of the Jews, who are figura- 
tively called the stars of God. 

Again, this angel of light must have been very 
ignorant of the power and goodness of the Almighty, 
in order to have possessed a thought, that to rebel 
against him could be of any possible advantage, or 
that he could have carried and maintained a contest 
with him. If he were as ignorant as all this, the 
inhabitants of Heaven must have been extremely 
uncultivated, in that age of eternity, and no great 
ornament to a place so much famed for glory and 
grandeur. If Heaven, which is said to be God's 
throne, be, or ever were inhabited by defectable 
beings, the place itself must be a defectable place ; 
and why the Almighty should take up his special 
abode in a defectable place, surrounded by defectable 
beings, I cannot imagine. But I pass on : 

After Satan was turned out of Heaven, he saw no 
possible way to injure his adversary, only by con- 
taminating his creatures, which he had just made, and 
placed in the happy situation just described. Here 
observe, the matter appears strange. Did God not 
know the evil disposition of Satan ? Had he forgotten 



56 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



the awful difficulty but just settled? Or would he 
leave an innocent lamb to the ferocity of a bear 
robbed of her whelps ? God had driven Satan from 
Heaven, from his own presence, but left him at loose 
ends to prey on his tender offspring, whom he had 
just left in a defenceless situation, on this ball of 
earth! What would appear more unnatural and 
shocking than for a father to chase his enemy out at 
his door, but leave him to slay his defenceless children 
in the street ? I shall, after what I have observed, 
beg liberty to say, I am so far from believing any 
such story respecting the cause of sin, that I have not 
even the shadow of evidence, from scripture or reason, 
to support the sentiment. But I have been told, that 
man, standing in a state of sinless purity, could not 
have fallen from that rectitude, unless there had been 
some sinful being to have tempted him. Admitting 
there is any force in this observation, it stands as 
directly against the fall of Satan, without a sinful 
temptation, as it does against man's transgression, 
without a tempter. Was man more pure, before lie 
sinned, than that holy angel in Heaven ? If not, how 
could that angel sin, without a temptation, easier than 
man, who was made in a lower grade ? But supposing 
we should admit that God commanded an angel to 
worship his Son Jesus, and the angel refused, and call 
that the first sin ever committed, it would not deter- 
mine its origin or cause. A cause, or origin must 
exist, before an effect, or production. So, after all 
our journeying to heaven after a sinning angel, and 
after pursuing him to hell, and from hell to the earth,' 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



57 



we have not yet answered the question, viz., What is 
the origin of sin ? We have only shown, that the way 
in which this question has been generally solved, is 
without foundation. 

Having stated what I have been told was the origin 
of sin, and given my reasons why I do not believe it, 
I now come to give my own ideas of the matter. 

Scripture, with the assistance of that reason, with- 
out which, the scriptures would be of no more service 
to us than they are to the brute creation, I shall take 
for my guide, on the question before me. Almighty 
God is a being of infinite perfections ; this the scrip- 
tures will support, and reason declare. He was the 
author of our existence, being the creator of the first 
man and woman, the occasion of their being formed 
of the dust of the ground, and the director of that 
providence by which we are all introduced by ordinary 
generation. Our Maker must have had a design in 
the works of his hands ; this the scriptures argue, and 
reason says. The whole of God's design must be 
carried into effect, and nothing more, admitting him 
to be an infinite being. We are informed that God 
created man in his own image ; that he blessed him, 
and set him over the works of his hands ; and reason 
cannot deny the truth of it. But what was this 
image of God in which man was created? Answer, it 
was Christ, who, in scripture, is called "the beginning 
of the creation of God ; " who, St. Paul says, " is the 
brightness of the Father's glory, and express image of 
his person." Now there is no need of saying much 
where the truth is easy to come at. If Christ be the 



58 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



image of God, and man was created in God's image, it 
is plain that man was created in Christ, was blessed in 
Christ, and in Christ set over the works of God's 
hands. After God had finished his work of creation, 
consecrated the seventh day, and rested from his 
labor, we are informed that there was not a man to 
till the ground. This information is reasonable, and 
authorizes me to say, that as man stood in his created 
character, which is Christ, the heavenly man, he was 
not, at that time, formed of the dust of the ground, 
was not of the earth earthly, and was, therefore, not a 
tiller of the ground. We are then informed, by the 
sacred text, that God formed (not created) man of the 
dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life, whereby man became a living soul, or 
creature. Man is now a partaker of flesh and blood ; 
is, as the apostle says, "made subject to vanity, not 
willingly, but by reason of him who subjected the 
same in hope." He has now, not an immortal, but a 
mortal constitution ; is possessed of natural appetites 
and passions ; and being unacquainted with the ways 
of his own imperfect self, knew neither the good or 
evil of a mortal state. If it be said that man was no 
mortal before he sinned, and that he became mortal 
by sin, it is a saying as distant from good reason as 
imagination can go. For if man were not mortal 
before transgression, he must have been immortal ; if 
he were immortal, he was not subject to change, but 
remains still in the same immortal state ; and all our 
notions about the mortality of man is nothing but 



A TBEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



59 



a groundless chimera. But every day's experience 
contradicts such absurdities. 

Man, according to these statements, is of heavenly 
extraction ; is, in his nature, allied to the heavenly 
state, in which he was created, before he was formed 
of the dust of the ground. And I call on the reason 
of my reader to testify to the rationality of the idea. 
If the mind, spirit, soul, or whatever the reader 
pleases to call the immortal part of man, originated 
from the earthly nature of the formed creature, what 
is the* reason that the good, which supports the 
formed nature, does not satisfy the soul? Our natural 
appetites originate in the elements of which our 
bodies are composed, and aliment produced from them 
is sufficient to satisfy any natural appetite of the body ; 
but can it give a cuji> of consolation to the heavenly 
stranger within ? No ; her food is of a different kind. 
Were the earth, with all her mines and fruits, my own, 
this moment, on condition that I should give up the 
riches which I see in this heavenly relation, my 
bargain would make me poor. 

As man stood in his formed state, clothed w 7 ith 
mortal flesh and blood, before his mind became ob- 
sequious to the elementary passions, a law was shad- 
owed to his mind from the heavenly and spiritual 
man. The full spirit, power and beauty of the law 
were not perfectly understood ; only a shadow of the 
heavenly nature passed on his mind, and the nature 
of that spirit being eternal and immortally pure, was 
opposed to the passions which would immediately 



60 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



rise from the fleshy nature, and said in the under- 
standing of the creature already made subject to 
vanity, " Yield not to the passions and powers of the 
flesh for they are death." But immediately the power- 
ful vibrations of the fleshy nature absorbed his mind, 
he sought to the carnal man for food, ate and died. 
These things are figuratively represented in the scrip- 
tures. There man is represented as being placed in a 
garden of delights, to keep it and to dress it. The 
tree of life was in it, and the tree of the knowledge 
of good and evil ; he was bid welcome to the tree of 
life, but was forbidden the other. A subtle serpent 
comes to the woman, and tempts her with the for- 
bidden fruit; she eats, and gives it to her husband, 
and he also partakes. Their eyes are opened to the 
knowledge of good and evil; they see that they are 
naked, and hide themselves from God ; sew fig-leaves 
together for garments to hide their nakedness. God 
comes into the garden, in the cool of the day, calls for 
the man, and asks him if he had eaten of the forbidden 
fruit. He answers that the woman whom God gave 
him gave unto him and he ate. The woman is next 
interrogated, and she lays it to the serpent's guile. 
The ground is cursed, for Adam's sake ; when he tills 
it, it is to produce briars and thorns ; he is to eat his 
bread, by the sweat of his face, and at last return to 
the dust. The woman's conception was to be multi- 
plied in sorrow, and her desire was to be to her 
husband, and he was to rule over her. The serpent 
was cursed above all cattle, was to go on his belly, and 
to eat dust as long as he lived. This is, in short, the 



A TEEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



61 



scripture representation of the first sin ; and I consider 
it to be figurative. 

That the Almighty ever planted a literal garden on 
earth, without using man as an instrument by which 
he did it, I have not evidence enough to believe. The 
garden undoubtedly meant the moral state in which 
man was placed, which like a garden would become 
foul, if it were not dressed and kept. The tree of life, 
was then, what it is now, the law of the spirit of life 
in Christ Jesus ; and the little of that spirit which was 
then manifested, was all the moral life which man pos- 
sessed at that time ; and, therefore, all which he was 
able to sin against. The tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil, was what it is now, the fleshy nature, which 
I have before described. The opposition of the law of 
the heavenly man, to that of the fleshy, is meant by 
the prohibition. The serpent signifies the carnal mind, 
which is enmity against God, is not subject to the law 
of the heavenly man, neither indeed can be. The 
carnal mind getting the victory over the law of life, in 
the understanding of the creature, is meant by the 
woman's being deceived. Adam is here the figure 
of him who was to come ; and his partaking with the 
woman, shows that Christ would bear the infirmities 
of human nature, his bride, who, in resj)ect to individ- 
uality, should be multiplied in sorrow, but should 
finally turn her desire towards her Redeemer, and he 
should protect her. The serpent, the cursed, is the 
carnal mind. His going on his belly, signifies his 
always being moved by fleshly lusts ; and his feeding 
on dust, teaches that carnal-mindedness never feeds 



62 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



on heavenly things, but on things of an earthly nature. 
And we may justly observe, that after all the cultiva- 
tion which is bestowed on the carnal or fleshy nature, 
it produces nothing better than briars and thorns. 

Should it be said that this garden was a literal 
garden, that the tree of life was a literal tree, and that 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was also 
literal; I should be glad to be informed what evidence 
can be educed in support of such an idea. Where is 
the garden now ? Where is the tree of life now ? 
Where is the tree of knowledge of good and evil 
now ? Are those trees now growing on the earth as 
literal trees ? We are not informed, in the scripture, 
that this garden was carried off to heaven, or that 
either of those trees was removed. It is written that 
God drove the man whom he had made out of the 
garden, and placed cherubims and a flaming sword at 
the east of the garden, to prevent the man from 
approaching the tree of life. If the garden were 
literal, why could not Adam have gone into it on the 
north, south, or west side ? But the east is the birth- 
place of light, and the cherubims and the flaming 
sword represent the law with its executive authority, 
which produces guilt or condemnation in the mind, 
and which is the death Adam died on the very day of 
transgression. 

The pathway of understanding is now open and 
clear. God saw fit, in his plan of divine wisdom, to 
make the creature subject to vanity; to give him 
a mortal constitution ; to fix in his nature those facul- 
ties which would, in their operation, oppose the spirit 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 63 

of the heavenly nature. It is, therefore, said that 
God put enmity between the seed of the woman and 
that of the serpent. And it was by the passions which 
arose from the fleshy nature that the whole mind 
became carnal, and man was captivated thereby. But 
perhaps the objector will say this denies the liberty of 
the will, and makes God the author of sin. To which 
I reply, desiring the reader to recollect what I have 
said of sin in showing its nature ; by which, it is dis- 
covered, that God may be the innocent and holy cause 
of that, which, in a limited sense, is sin; but as it 
respects the meaning of God, it is intended for good. 
It is not casting any disagreeable reflections on the 
Almighty to say he determined all things for good ; 
and to believe he supersedes all the affairs of the 
universe, not excepting sin, is a million times more to 
the honor of God than to believe he cannot, or that he 
does not when he can. The reader will then ask, 
if God must be considered as the first, the holy, 
and the innocent cause of sin, is' there any unholy or 
impure cause ? I answer, there is, but in a limited 
sense. There is no divine holiness in any fleshly or 
carnal exercise ; there is no holiness nor purity in all 
the deceptions ever experienced by imperfect beings ; 
and these are the immediate causes of sin; and as 
such, they make the best of men on earth groan, and 
cry out, " Who shall deliver me from the body of this 
death?" 

If it should be granted that sin will finally terminate 
for good, in the moral system, it will then be necessary 
to admit that God is its first cause, or we cannot say 



64 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

that God is the author of all good. If we say that sin 
is not for the good of God's system, but is a damage, 
we must also say that God would have prevented its 
taking place if it had been in his power; if it were not 
in his power he is not Almighty; neither can we say 
he is Supreme in an unlimited sense as he was not 
superior to the causes which produced sin. But to 
say that God is the author of sin, says the reader, 
sounds very badly, let you put what coloring you 
please upon it ; and if I believed it I should not dare 
to say it. "Well, what shall I say in order to please ? 
Say the Devil was the author of sin. But did the 
Devil make himself? Xo ; God made him an holy 
angel, and he made himself a devil, by transgression. 
Well, God made an angel, and that angel made a 
devil of himself, or anything else, proves that God 
was the first cause as directly as anything which 
I have argued. The objector will further say that 
that angel was made a moral agent, and therefore 
ought to be considered the author of his own sin. 
But I say, in reply, that if God produced an agency, 
and that agency produced sin, it argues that God 
is the first cause, and agency the second and effective 
cause. If this mode of reasoning be faulted, I ask, 
is not God the origin and cause of all moral righteous- 
ness ? Xone can be perverse enough to say no ; then 
I ask, again, if moral agency, created by God, be not 
the original cause of moral righteousness, by what 
rule of reasoning can it be made the original cause 
of transgression ? But I have before refuted the 
notion about this sinning angel. I now call the at- 



A TBEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



65 



tention of the reader to man, which is our proper 
study ; and attend to the objection as it respects the 
liberty of the will. But, in the first place, for the 
sake of the argument, I will consent to any liberty 
of the will which is contended for ; and then ask, 
what was the cause of man's having liberty of will? 
My opponent must allow it was God. Well, if God 
produced a liberty of will in man, and that liberty of 
will produced sin, is there any great difficulty in 
seeing that that is making God the original cause 
of sin in every sense in which I have argued it ? 
What would the objector wish to be understood to 
mean by will ? If it be anything more or less than 
choice, I am at a loss about it. If it be choice, then 
what we have to look into is the liberty of choice. 
In order for choice to take place, the mind must have 
perceptions of two or more objects ; and that object 
which has the most influence on the judgment and 
passions will be the chosen object; and choice, in this 
instance, has not even the shadow of liberty. None 
will be vain enough to say that will, or choice, has any 
liberty before it exists, and choice does not exist until 
an object is chosen ; and to say choice has liberty to 
refuse an object after it is chosen, is using a violence 
on terms. And the same will be the conclusion if we 
take the word will. A person is invited by two 
friends to make them a visit the same afternoon, at 
their respective houses ; he wishes to visit both but 
cannot at the same time. In this circumstance, hon- 
ored with both their invitations, he feels at a real loss 
what answer to make; both insist on his compliance 



66 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT* 



with equal earnestness, and with equal influence on 
his judgment and passions, he still remains without a 
determination. To end the affair, one of his friends 
says, I will go with you this afternoon, and visit our 
friend, if you and he will return the visit next week. 
This decides in the mind of him who was first invited, 
as the other consents to the proposal. Xow, choice, 
or will, is in favor of visiting, according to the last 
proposal made. Until the man willed to go, the will 
to go did not exist ; it could have no liberty before it 
did exist ; and after it did, to say that that will 
which was to go one way, was at liberty to go the 
other, is using the violence before mentioned. It is 
then evident that will, or choice, has no possible 
liberty. The objector will now move his position, 
and say it is the mind that has this liberty to choose, 
or not choose ; to will, or not will. In order to deter- 
mine this matter justly, I first ask, does the power of 
choosing exist in the mind, or in the object chosen ? 
If it be answered that the power of choice is in the 
mind, and not in the object which influences the niind, 
the man who was at a loss to determine which of his 
friends to visit, while the objects were in equal force 
on his mind, was entirely ignorant of it; and ad- 
mitting it was so, it might as well have been other- 
wise, for the power of choosing in his mind did him 
no good ; he was after all dependent on a certain 
circumstance, which, being attached to one object, 
made it preferable to the other. Again, admitting the 
power of choice to be attributed to the mind, and not 
to the object which gives perceptions to the mind and 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



67 



influences it, it must be as easy for the mind to choose 
a minor as a major object. It will be granted, on all 
sides, that persons may choose an object in preference 
to another, which is not half so valuable ; but this is 
always in consequence of error in judgment. Now it 
is as objects appear to the mind that we ought to con- 
sider them in our present query. Supposing a poor 
man, who has a wife and some hungry children to 
feed, is offered a dollar or a guinea for a day's work ; 
he does not know the value of either, not being 
acquainted with money, or its value, or the nature of 
the metals which are stamped with value. He con- 
sults, or means to consult, the good of those for whom 
he is willing to labor, and would if possible receive 
that which would do the most towards removing 
their wants ; and says to himself, the dollar is much 
the largest, and the probability is it is worth three 
times as much as the guinea ; it is finally his opinion 
that that is the case. Now I ask in relation to my 
argument, which of those pieces of money will he be 
most likely to choose? The answer is, the dollar. 
But I ask, why ? If his mind be at real liberty, it is 
no more attached to the dollar than to the guinea ; 
the influence which the dollar has on his mind more 
than the guinea, destroys not the liberty of the mind 
to choose the guinea; I wish to be told why he is 
more likely to choose the dollar than the guinea. Or, 
to alter the statement, so that the mind is not de- 
ceived : the man perfectly knows the value of both 
guinea and dollar. The good of his wanting family is 
what he means to consult; which will he be most 



68 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



likely to choose in this case ? Answer, the guinea. I 
ask, again, why? Is there any reason, or is there not? 
There is, and it is the greater value. Then the object 
governs the choice. I ask, in the above instance, had 
the mind any power or liberty to choose the object 
which appeared of the least value, and refuse that 
which appeared of the greatest? I am sure there is 
not a person in the world who would say that it had. 
Again, admitting, for the sake of the argument, that 
the mind possesses this imaginary liberty, I then ask, 
how came it to possess such liberty? Answer, God 
gave it. Then the matter stands thus, God produced 
a mind, and gave it liberty to will, or choose, and it 
wills or chooses; I ask, what is the original cause 
of this willing and choosing ? The reader will easily 
see, that if I grant my opponent's arguments, it will 
not be to his advantage. Again, for the last time, 
if God gave to man a liberty whereby he can choose 
or refuse the same object, did he not give his creature 
a liberty which he did not possess himself ? Did not 
the Infinitely Wise eternally know all that lie himself 
would do? It must be granted. Then I ask, again, 
does he possess any liberty in his nature whereby it is 
in his power, to abandon the general system contained 
in his divine omnisciency, and embrace one entirely 
different ? I am sure there are but few in the world 
who would not say, as did the apostle, "He cannot 
deny himself." If the creature possess any ability 
which is not in his Creator, I would ask, first, where 
he got it ? And, secondly, if the Almighty knew all 
the consequences which would arise from such an 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



69 



ability? If the answer be in the negative, it argues 
that his wisdom is finite and limited, and that he does 
not know but this unaccountable ability of willing and 
choosing may finally destroy his whole plan in creation, 
providence and redemption ! If it be granted that he 
did know all the consequences that would arise from 
this ability of willing and choosing, which is called 
liberty of will, it is denying its existence. For if 
those consequences are all known, it argues they were 
all certain, and none of them avoidable. 

Having, as I hope, to the reader's satisfaction, 
answered the objections in respect to the liberty 
of the will, I would again invite him back to our 
subject. 

The immediate causes of sin are found in our 
natural constitutions, and the most distant of those 
immediate causes are the same as the most distant 
of the immediate causes of our virtues ; but the most 
immediate causes of our virtues and our vices are 
extremely different. For instance, two men meet at 
an inn ; both of them have families which are in want 
of bread ; they have each fifty cents, which they have 
just taken for their day's work. One says to the 
other, " Come, sit down, and we will take some drink 
for our comfort, after a hard day's labor." The other 
reflects in his mind, and says to himself, "To let my 
children suffer at home, to gratify my company in 
what is indifferent to me, would be abominable, 
having no particular appetite for spirits." He therefore 
refuses, bids his company good-night, goes and pur- 
chases necessary provisions for his family, and goes 



70 



A TEEATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



home. He has done as a virtuous, honest husband 
ought to do. The other possesses a violent appetite 
for ardent spirits ; the moment he comes where it is, 
his want of it overpowers his love and duty to his 
family, — the latter object being at a distance, and the 
former being nigh ; he calls for drink until he spends 
his fifty cents, and then goes home to his expecting 
family intoxicated. In this, according to the scrip- 
tures, though he were a professed Christian, he is 
worse than an infidel. 

In the mirror presented the reader may see that 
those two men acted equally alike from their natural 
wants, appetites, and passions. Had neither of them 
any wants, appetites, or passions, neither of them 
would have done anything at all. They would not 
have labored for the money ; and if they had the 
money they would not have laid it out in any way 
possible. Therefore, we see that want, appetite, and 
passion, in one produced virtue, and in the other vice. 
But the still more immediate causes were not the 
same in both persons; and the consequence to them, 
in a moral sense, differs as much as did the most imme- 
diate circumstances which produced their conduct. 
One felt the approbation of a good conscience in 
having done what cool, dispassionate reason dictated; 
the other, as soon as his eyes are opened to see what 
he has done, is struck with condemnation for having 
violated the dictates of that law of prudence and 
equity of which he was susceptible. 

A beggar, influenced by hunger, calls at the door 
of the affluent for food ; he knows it is there, his ap- 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



71 



petite is good, the object magnifies to his senses ; but 
by one who knows the love of property more than the 
want of food, he is sternly denied. The beggar 
prostrates himself and moves his suit in language 
of distress, reducing his petition to only a piece of 
bread ; the covetous man is a little moved, with some 
small feelings of compassion, but fearing that if he 
should bestow he should consequently be troubled 
again, bids the beggar depart, and leaves him. The 
beggar's object was food, and his passion hunger; he 
acted up to the influence of his object, and did all m 
his power to obtain it. The other's object was the 
saving of his property, and his passion was covetous- 
ness ; he acted up to the influence of his object, to the 
gratification of his passion. Now, had the circum- 
stance been varied, so much as this, that he did not 
think his giving at that time would ever induce him 
to call again, the probability is, his object and his 
passion would both have been different ; to feed an 
hungry man would have been his object, and charity 
his passion. 

Man's main object, in all he does, is happiness ; and 
were it not for that, he never could have any other 
particular object. What would induce men to form 
societies ; to be at the expense of supporting govern- 
ment ; to acquire knowledge ; to learn the sciences, or 
till the earth, if they believed they could be as happy 
without as with ? The fact is r man would not be the 
being that he now is, as there would not be any 
stimulus to action ; he must become inert, therefore 
cease to be. As men are never without this grand 



72 



A TEEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



object, so they are never without their wants, which 
render such an object desirable. But their minor 
objects vary, according as their understandings vary, 
and their passions differ. Then, says the objector, 
there is no such thing as disinterested benevolence. 
I answer, words are used to communicate ideas; there 
is that often in our experience, which is meant by 
disinterested benevolence. An American is travelling 
in Europe ; he meets in the street a young and 
beautiful fair, bathed in tears, her breast swollen with 
grief, and her countenance perfectly sad. His heart, 
fraught with the keenest sensibility, is moved com- 
passionately to inquire the cause of her grief; he is 
informed that her father, in a late sickness, became 
indebted to his physician twenty guineas, for which 
he was that hour committed to gaol, when he had but 
partially recovered his health. Our traveller no 
sooner hears the story than he advances the twenty 
guineas to discharge the debt, and gives her fifty 
more as a reward for her generous concern. As our 
traveller did not expect any pecuniary reward, either 
directly or indirectly, his charity is called disinterested 
benevolence. But, strictly speaking, he was greatly 
interested ; he was interested in the afflictions of 
father and child ; their relief was his object, and 
charity his passion. Now did he not act for his own 
happiness? Yes, as much as ever a man did in life. 
What must have been his misery, possessing the same 
disposition, without the means to relieve? And what 
a sublime satisfaction he enjoyed by the bestowinent 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT, 



73 



of his favor! Sacred truth informs us, "It is more 
blessed to give than to receive." 

We find some men honest and industrious who 
think, and think justly, that happiness is not to be 
found in any other way. Others are indolent and 
knavish, and they expect to obtain happiness in so 
being. But they are deceived in their objects, and 
will finally learn , that they must be, what conscience 
has often told them they ought to be, honest and just, 
in order to be happy. 

The objector will say, to admit that our happi- 
ness is the grand object of all we do, destroys the 
purity of religion, and reduces the whole to noth- 
ing but selfishness. To which, I reply, a man acting 
for his own happiness, if he seek it in the heavenly 
system of universal benevolence, knowing that his 
own happiness is connected with the happiness of his 
fellow-men, which induces him to do justly and to 
deal mercifully with all men, he is no more selfish 
than he ought to be. But a man acting for his own 
happiness, if he seek it in the narrow circle of partiality 
and covetousness, his selfishness is irreligious and 
wicked. 

I know it is frequently contended that we ought to 
love God for what he is, and not for wdiat we receive 
from him ; that we ought to love holiness for holiness' 
sake, and not for any advantage such a principle is to 
us. This is what I have often been told, but what 
I never could see any reason for, or propriety in. I 
am asked if I love an orange ; I answer I never tasted 
of one ; but I am told I must love the orange for what 



74 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



it is ! Now I ask, is it possible for me either to like 
or dislike the orange, in reality, until I taste it ? 
Well, I taste of it, and like it. Do you like it ? says 
my friend. Yes, I reply, its flavor is exquisitely 
agreeable. But that will not do, says my friend ; you 
must not like it because its taste is agreeable, but 
you must like it because it is an orange. If there be 
any propriety in what my friend says, it is out of my 
sight. A man is travelling on the sands of Arabia, he 
finds no water for a number of days ; the sun scorches 
and he is exceedingly dry ; at last he finds water and 
drinks to his satisfaction ; never did water taste half 
so agreeably before. To say that this man loves the 
water because it is water, and not because of the 
advantage which he receives from it, betrays a large 
share of inconsistency. Would not this thirsty trav- 
eller have loved the burning sand as well as he did 
the water if it had tasted as agreeably and quenched 
his thirst as well ? The sweet Psalmist of Israel said, 
" O taste and see that the Lord is good." And an 
apostle says, ""We love him because he first loved us." 
What attribute do we ascribe to God that we do not 
esteem on account of its advantage to us? Justice 
would have been no more likely to be attributed to 
the Almighty than injustice if it had not first been 
discovered that justice was of greater advantage to 
mankind than injustice. And so of power, were it of 
no more advantage to human society than weakness, 
the latter would have been as likely to have been 
esteemed an attribute of God as the former. If 
wisdom were of no greater service to man than folJy, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 75 



it would not have been adored in the Almighty any 
more than folly. If love were no more happifying to 
man than hatred, hatred would as soon have been 
esteemed an attribute of God as love. 

Undoubtedly the Almighty loves without an in- 
fluential object, as it would be erroneous to suppose 
that an infinite being could be operated upon. He 
loves because His nature is to love. An apostle says, 
u God is love." The sun does not shine because 
our earth influences it ; it is the nature of the sun to 
shine. But air created beings love because of in- 
fluential objects ; and they always love according to 
the influence which objects have on their minds and 
passions. It seems, then, says the objector, that our 
vices are not to be attributed to the devil, but to the 
influence which objects have on our minds. Surely 
the reader ought to expect that after I have denied 
the existence of a being, I should, likewise, deny his 
power. Perhaps, however, the reader may be sur- 
prised to find that I do not believe in the existence of 
a being so universally acknowledged among Christian 
people, and which, perhaps, has been of as much 
advantage to some as the Goddess Diana was to the 
craftsmen of Ephesus. But I am willing to give my 
reasons for not believing wdtb the multitude in this 
particular. A created individual being cannot be in 
more than one place at the same time. But how 
many millions of places must this evil angel be in at 
once, in order to perform the business which Christians 
have allotted him ? In order for me to believe in 
such a being, I must give him the omnipresence of the 



76 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



Almighty, which belongs to none, in my opinion, bat 
my Maker. Again, to admit the existence of such a 
being would be of no avail, as there is nothing for 
him to do. There is, says the objector; he tempts 
men to sin. But does he tempt men contrary to their 
passions and the influence of their motives ? Answer, 
no. Then the temptation is of no j^ossible conse- 
quence. Supposing a man to be exceedingly hungry, 
and an agreeable meal is set before him, and he in- 
vited to refresh; at that moment the devil comes and 
tempts him to eat. What effect would the temptation 
have on the hungry man? Or, supposing, in room of 
tempting him to eat, he should tempt him not to eat, 
would he be likely to succeed ? But what means the 
Scripture which speaks of a devil ? one who was a 
liar from the beoimiincr etc. I answer I have no 
objection to believing that there is such a devil as the 
Scripture speaks of. He is called the old serpent, and 
is the same I have described, which beguiled the 
woman in the beginning; and it is the carnal mind 
which is enmity against God. "I will put enmity 
between thee and the woman," said the Lord, "be- 
tween her seed and thy seed." An apostle says, 
"The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit 
against the flesh, that ye cannot do the things ye 
would." And that this was the first beguiler, we 
may learn from the Scripture, which saith, "Lust, 
when it conceived, brought forth sin ; and sin, when 
it was finished, brought forth death." An apostle 
also says, " When a man is tempted, ke is drawn 
away with his own lusts, and enticed." Any person, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



77 



who is wholly dictated by a fleshly mind, may justly 
be called a devil, as in the case of Judas and Peter. 
As our Lord said to the Jews, also, " Ye are of your 
father, the devil ; and the lusts of your father ye will 
do." But, says the objector, do you think our Saviour 
was tempted by the ' powers of the flesh when it was 
said he was tempted by the devil ? I ask, in my turn, 
for what is this particular circumstance introduced ? 
If we cannot prove, from our own experience, that we 
are tempted *by some other being than our own fleshly 
appetites, would it be anything more than a specu- 
lative belief to admit another tempter ? But, says the 
objector, that does not answer the question. Then 
let us look at his temptations : when he hungered he 
was tempted; by what? and to what? Answer, by 
hunger, to turn stones into bread. Here was a fleshly 
appetite. When he had a view of all the kingdoms of 
the earth, and their worldly glory, he was tempted to 
avail himself of them. Here was natural ambition, 
such as gave rise to the victories of an Alexander. 
When on the pinnacle of the temple, he was tempted 
to cast himself down, as it was written' concerning 
him, that God would give his angels charge over him, 
etc. Here was that passion which gives rise to 
presumption, and wishes to avoid duty. But, it is 
said, the devil taketh him about, thus and so ; not 
literally, however, for there is no mountain in the 
world that commands a prospect of but a small part 
of the kingdoms of the world. The exceeding high 
mountain on which our Redeemer stood, when he saw 
all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, 



78 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



was the mountain of human pride. Remember, when 
a person is on a mountain, the mountain is beneath his 
feet. So was this mountain of human pride beneath 
the feet of our sinless Redeemer; but at the same 
time it gave him a prospect of all which the world 
calls great and glorious. In a word, the Scriptures 
inform us that he was tempted in all points as we are, 
yet without sin. If, therefore, we know how we are 
tempted, we know, also, how he was tempted. It is a 
sentiment of mine that we ought not to argue that 
for truth, in matters of this nature, which we have no 
knowledge of by experience. 



CHAPTER III. 



ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

Haying illustrated the original cause, and the sec- 
ondary causes of sin, I pass to take notice of its 
consequences. 

In order to have our work plain before us, I ob- 
serve, sin is the fruit of the flesh, which are opposed 
to that true light which lighteth every man who 
cometh into the world. And St. Paul says they 
are manifest. (See Gal. v. 19, 20, 21.) "Now the 
works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, 
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idol- 
atry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, 
strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunken- 
ness, revellings, and such like." These are the sins 
which our fleshly minds are daily producing, and 
their consequences are witnessed by a miserable 
world. By these sins, with their associates, man- 
kind is rendered miserable indeed. Social and domestic 
happiness is frequently destroyed. Cold and cruel 
jealousy murders the soft and tender passions of love, 
as Cain slew his brother. A garden, enclosed by the 
walls of fidelity, decked with the flowers of innocence, 
watered with the living streams of love, teeming with 
fruits of richest repast, and adorned with the vine 
of future prospects, is laid waste in an hour. Jeal- 
ousy, like a foe bent on plunder, flung down the wall, 

79 



80 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



dried up the stream, and, like a devouring worm, 
gnawed the vine that it perished ; the flowers droop, 
and the fruits wither away. Nothing remains but 
some faint vestiges of what is ruined, serving as 
evidence of the melancholy truth that sin has found 
its way to this once happy place. 

Idolatry is the sin of worshipping that which is not, 
in reality, the true God. The old serpent could 
never long hold the creature in captivity if he did not 
allow him a god to worship and religious duties to 
amuse him. I have already argued that man is of 
heavenly extraction, that he is related to his Maker, is 
a dependent being ; and, therefore, to worship is per- 
fectly natural to him. Then, in order for the carnal 
mind to take the lead of the whole man, it must intro- 
duce a god to be worshipped, and religious duties 
whereby this god may be pleased, and make the 
creature believe that this god is the true God, and 
that those religious duties are of the genuine kind. 
But this god will surely possess all the vile passions of 
the old man, Adam, and those religious duties must 
consist in certain rites, which bear no relation to 
heaven-born charity, or deeds of kindness. An Al- 
mighty, omnipresent, infinitely wise and good, may 
be talked of ; but his wisdom, power and goodness 
must be denied ; and he must be a great many millions 
of miles off, fixed to a certain place, yet everywhere 
present; infinitely wise and powerful, yet suffers an 
everlasting violation of his will ; possessed of infinite 
wisdom, yet is disappointed in his plans; loves some 
of his creatures, and hates others ; is pleased and dis- 



A TBEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



81 



pleased with the conduct of his creatures ; is perfectly- 
unchangeable, yet loves at one time, and at another, 
hates the same object. Such an idol will answer 
for thousands. Now what are the consequences ? 
Answer, one nation supposes itself the only favorite 
of God ; other people are haters of him, and hated by 
him. If my God hates those who hate him, I ought 
to do as my God does, and I will hate them, too. One 
denomination of Christians has different ideas of the 
attributes of their God from another ; they are 
violently opposed to each other ; they are at swords' 
points ; they call each other heretics, and doom each 
other to the endless wrath of their God ! All such 
religion is of the flesh ; the wisdom of it is not from 
above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish, and those 
wiio possess it are tormented day and night with it. 
Reader, turn over the pages of history, calculate the 
rivers of blood which have been shed on account 
of religious disputes, and ask yourself the question, is 
this religion worthy of a Supreme Being? The devil 
will have religion, and will have it maintained as long 
as he can ; but then he must tell the people that it is 
none of his, but that it came from the true living God, 
or they will not believe it. It is an object with the 
old serpent to have a great many denominations, and 
to persuade them that they are individually right, 
and individually wrong, and to stir up their minds to 
maintain their respective tenets, and to wage war 
with each other, which he calls contending earnestly 
for the faith. Many who profess to be called by Him 
who loved sinners to preach the Gospel, and who pre- 



82 



A TREATISE ON ATOXE3XEXT. 



tend to follow the Saviour in the path of meekness, 
if they happen to think a little different in matters of 
faith, they are filled with the greatest vehemence 
towards each other, which they call holy wrath, or 
indignation ; and you might as well reason with 
hungry lions, or tigers, as with them, for they worship 
the beast, and they partake largely of his nature. 
Did they worship the true God, in the spirit of the 
heavenly man, difference in particular sentiments 
would not hinder their fellowship and love to one 
another. All the religion in our world, founded on 
the partial principles of man's inventions, pointing out 
particular modes of faith and forms of worship, is 
from the carnal man. Discord and contention ensue ; 
wars and fightings are the consequences ; hatred, 
wrath, strife, emulation, and rivalship, rage in the 
minds of those who possess this spurious religion. 
What I say is a truth of universal notoriety ; and yet, 
what is very strange is, people are not convinced 
of it. As if a monstrous wolf should ravage, in open 
daylight, in the high and low parts of the shepherd's 
pasture, gorging his carnivorous appetite with the 
blood and fat of the flock ; and the shepherd thinks it 
is all well because somebody, on whose sleeve he 
pins his faith, has told him that that creature is a 
sheep, and that it will do no harm ! How miserable 
has religion made mankind ! But, says the reader, it 
was sin that you were to tell the consequences of, not 
religion. I tell you, kind reader, that the religion 
of which I speak, is opposed to every decree of the 
spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which has ever been 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT . 



83 



revealed to mankind, and, therefore, is sin ; and that 
which is attended with the most pernicious conse- 
quences. It is this kind of religion which takes away 
the " key of knowledge ; " its votaries neither enter the 
kingdom of heaven themselves, nor suffer those to 
enter who would. All worship, which is dictated by 
modes and forms, as inventions of men, is opposed to 
the true worship. "The Father seeketh such to 
worship him, who worship him in spirit and in truth." 
Nothing suits the carnal mind better than religion ; 
but it must be a child of her own, and must look just 
like herself. The carnal mind being the hot-bed 
where all the roots of bitterness grow which trouble 
mankind, we ought to look there for the foundation 
of all that religion which bears the features of the 
serpent. Pride is the most prominent characteristic 
of a fleshly mind, its religion dictates to look with con- 
tempt on those who are not of the same mode of faith, 
w T ho do not subscribe to the same articles of belief, 
and are not called by the same denomination ; and 
says, " Stand by thyself, come not nigh me, for I am 
holier than thou." It dictates to give thanks for not 
being like others ; it boasts of performances wrought 
with great pains and expense ; it boasts of having 
" borne the burden and heat of the day," and dictates 
to expect more than others receive. " But the carnal 
mind," says the reader, " makes no use of the scrip- 
tures, does it ? " Always, be sure, where it is fash- 
ionable to believe them, and men are despised if they 
do not. Anything will do, of which the creature is 
proud, and is willing to j)ersecute others for not 



84 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT 



adopting. But ought not men to be despised, and 
called all to naught, who do not believe the Bible 
to be the word of God ? The old serpent will an- 
swer, yes, where it suits his turn best ; but the spirit 
of Christ answers, no, in all cases. If the Scriptures 
be not the word of God, men ought not to be despised 
for not believing them ; and if they be, they ought 
not to be despised, but pitied and enlightened. 
Remember, our acceptable High Priest was one who 
could " have compassion on the ignorant, and on them 
who were out of the way." Emulation, or rivalship, 
is one of the works of the flesh, and it is enmity against 
the meek and humble spirit of Christ ; and its conse- 
quences are pernicious beyond- description. In matters 
called religion we see much of its antiquity, as well as 
in natural things. One denomination wishes to rival 
another; one preacher wishes to rival another; and 
how often is it the case that professed Christians will 
act more underhandedly to obtain an advantage over 
a professor of a different denomination, than a common 
jockey is willing to do in order to obtain a bargain ! 
And I will say more, I have often seen, in the same 
churches, persons at such variance about matters of 
their religion, that truth seemed not to be regarded in 
the least on either side ; each would strive to crush his 
brother, until two parties were formed, and a whole 
town set in an uproar. This is the religion which 
pleases the carnal mind, but it is death. One nation 
looks with an envious eye on the increasing wealth 
and population of another. She forms a subterfuge, 
as a pretext for declaring war against her neighbor, 



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85 



by which the two nations are drawn into a contention ; 
a long war ensues, bringing horrors, to describe which 
would swell a volume to an enormous size. Look on 
France and England this moment, and for many 
years back. Who could calculate one-half the miseries 
produced from the spirit of rivalshij) between these 
potent rivals. How many a brave youth has fallen a 
sacrifice to ambition ; how often has the ground drunk 
copious draughts of human blood; the bosom of the 
deep been reddened with the gore of the slain ; and 
sharks and sea-dogs fed on the sons of mourning 
fathers and weeping mothers ; while the leaders of 
this calamity make high professions of the religion 
of the meek and lowly Jesus, and are frequently 
sending out their proclamations for fasts and for 
prayers to Almighty God to assist them in human 
butchery! "From whence come wars and fightings 
among you? Come they not even from your lusts, 
which war against the soul ? " It is recorded in the 
Scriptures that the love of money is the root of all 
evil. But men would have no love for money were 
it not for the earthly advantages obtained by it. 
Then the passion is covetousness, and the consequence 
is mischievous to mankind. One, for the sake of 
money, will steal, another will lie, another counterfeit 
the currency, and another will murder. Were it not 
for the sake of property, would men do these things ? 
Answer, no. Then, in relation to what I have before 
argued, I ask, would men be industrious were it not 
for the sake of property ? Answer, no ; then the case 
is plain that they both act from the same main 



86 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT . 



passion, which is want, and to the same main object, 
which is happiness. But their minor objects and 
their minor passions vary. What need would there 
be of government were it not for sin ? If all were 
willing to do as they would be done by, what an 
enormous expense would be saved, as it would render 
governmental laws useless. But by reason of men's 
passions and mistaken objects influencing them, our 
lives are exposed to be taken by our neighbors, 
our property pillaged, our hard earnings wrung by 
violence away, and our midnight slumbers interrupted 
by banditti, and, in short, all that is dear to us, to be 
taken from our enjoyment. " He who loveth not his 
brother is a murderer." Are not all men murderers ? 
Do they not sometimes experience the lack of 
brotherly love ? This murderous passion is sin ; it is 
opposed to the language of the heavenly man in the 
mind ; but what are its consequences ? Every one 
endeavors to supplant his brother, no one is safe in 
his feelings while he is in the hands of his brother. 
When this passion reigns, all the tender charities 
of humanity are suppressed ; all the bowels of com- 
passion are frozen ; a deaf ear turned to the cries and 
calls of the needy in distress ; the poor are despised 
by the rich, the rich are envied by the poor ; parents 
are dishonored by their children ; children are abused, 
and provoked to anger by their parents. The vile 
affections of sin will burn to the destruction of the 
sweetest harmonies of nature ; the Avhitest robes 
of innocence are stained with its indelible crimson ; 
the soul is drowned in the black waters of iniquity, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



87 



and the whole mind, with every faculty, is plunged 
into the hell of moral death. 

Yet, listen to the worst of torments in consequence 
of sin. a A wounded conscience who can bear?" 
A fire that burns all the day long, a sword that 
continually pierceth the soul, a sting that cannot 
exhaust its poison, a fever that ■ never turns till the 
patient dies. "A dart struck through his liver." 
What ails the sinner ? why his hand on his breast ? 
There gnaws the worm that never dies, there burns 
the fire that is never quenched. A consciousness of 
guilt destroys all the expected comforts and pleasures 
of sin. How strange it is that after a thousand dis- 
appointments in succession men are not discouraged. 
Oh, sin ! how you paint your face ; how you flatter us, 
poor mortals, on to death ; you never appear to the 
sinner in your true character ; you make us fair prom- 
ises, but you never fulfilled one ; your tongue is 
smoother than oil, but the poison of asps is under 
your lips ; you have impregnated all our passions with 
the venom of your poison ; you have spread gloomy 
darkness over the whole region of the soul ; you have 
endeavored, with your stupefactive poison, to blunt 
the sword in the hands of the cherubim s, which, for 
your sake, keeps us from the tree of life. 

A mistaken idea has been entertained of sin even 
by professors. I have often heard sincere ministers 
j)reach, in their reproofs to their hearers, that it was 
the greatest folly in the world for people to forego 
salvation in a future state for the comforts and 
pleasures of sin in this. Such exhortations really 



88 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



defeat their intentions. The wish of the honest 
preacher is that the wicked should repent of their sins 
and do better; but, at the same time, he indicates 
that sin, at present, is more productive of happiness 
than righteousness ; but that the bad will come in 
another world ; that, although doing well is a hard 
way, yet its advantages will be great in another state. 
Just as much as any person thinks sin to be more 
happifying than righteousness, he is sinful ; his heart 
esteems it, though in some possible cases, for fear 
of the loss of salvation in the world to come, he may 
abstain from some outward enormities ; yet his heart 
is full of the desire of doing them. A thief passes a 
merchant's shop, wishes to steal some of his goods, but 
durst not for fear of apprehension and punishment. 
Is this man less a thief at heart for not actually 
taking the goods? I have been told, by persons 
of high professions in Christianity, that if they were 
certain of salvation in the world to come they would 
commit every sin to which their unbridled passions 
might lead them; even from the lips of some who 
profess to preach the righteousness of Christ have 
I heard such-like expressions! I do not mention these 
things to cast reflections on any person or denom- 
ination in the world ; for I have a favorable hope that 
there are some in all denominations who are not to be 
deceived ; but I mention them in order to show how 
deceiving sin is to the mind. It is as much the nature 
of sin to torment the mind as it is the nature of fire to 
burn our flesh. Sin deprives us of every rational 
enjoyment, so far as it captivates the mind ; it was 



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89 



never able to furnish one drop of cordial for the soul ; 
her tender mercies are cruelty, and her breasts of con- 
solation are gall and wormwood. Sin is a false mirror, 
by which the sinner is deceived in everything on 
which his mind contemplates. If he think of his 
Maker, who is his best friend, it strikes him with awe, 
fills his mind with fearful apprehensions, and he 
wishes there was no such being. If he think of any 
duty which he owes his Maker, he says, in a moment, 
God is a hard master, why should he require of me 
what is so contrary to my hapjriness ? Religion is 
only calculated to make men miserable ; righteousness 
blunts my passions, and deprives me of pleasures for 
which I long. But it represents stolen waters to be 
sweet, and bread eaten in secret to be pleasant. In a 
word, sin is of a torment-giving nature to every faculty 
of the soul, and is the moral death of the mind. 

Well, says the reader, can sin have all those evil 
effects and not be infinite ? Undoubtedly ; as all 
those evil effects are experienced in this finite state. 
Thousands, who, I hope, are gone to greater degrees 
of rest than the most upright enjoy here, were once 
tormented with sin, were once under the dominion 
of the carnal mind. The effects of sin as sin are not 
endless, but limited to the state in which it is com- 
mitted. This, perhaps, will be contrary to the opinion 
of many who read this treatise, as they are wont to 
suppose that there are three cardinal consequences 
produced by sin ; viz., death temporal, death spiritual, 
and death eternal. 

As to the first of these consequences I think I have 



90 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT, 



plainly refuted it. Men die natural deaths because 
they are naturally mortal ; but they are not mortal 
because of sin, for man was mortal before he sinned ; 
if he were not he never could have sinned. My 
opponent will say that the death of the body is the 
consequence of sin when one man murders another ; 
to which I reply one man could not murder another if 
men were not mortal. Sin cannot be said to be the 
cause of natural death any more than of natural life. 
I will acknowledge that sin is often the mean whereby 
natural life is ended, and my opposer must acknowl- 
edge that it is often the mean of persons being intro- 
duced into natural life. Perhaps an hundred are 
introduced into existence by illicit connections where 
one is taken out by malice prepense. But the 
meaning of the objector is that man became mortal 
by sin ; to which I reply if immortality be corruptible 
by sin, the Christian hope of immortality is a vain 
one. The death which Adam died in consequence 
of sin, happened on the day of transgression, if we 
may believe the Scripture account about it; but Adam 
did not die a natural death, on that day, nor for some 
hundreds of years afterwards. 

The way in which many have tried to reconcile the 
Scriptures with their traditions in this matter appears 
strange to me ; they quote 2 Peter iii. 8 : " But, 
beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one 
day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a 
thousand years as one day"; and as Adam died short 
of a thousand years, he died in the day of trans- 
gression. But in order for the text to read to their 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



91 



meaning, it ought to read thus: "One day with the 
Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one 
day;" as they understand the text the conjunction as 
has no possible meaning. In respect to spiritual death 
I believe it was all that was meant by the word, " In 
the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 
But if eternal death were also intended there was no 
recovery for man. Why divines have carried this 
matter so erroneously beyond all Scripture tenets 
I cannot imagine. But, it is said, spiritual or moral 
death would be eternal w T ere it not for the dispen- 
sation of the Gospel, by which death is swallowed up 
of life. So we might say of anything else even of a 
momentary nature ; it would be eternal if it were 
never to end. The days of a man's life would be 
eternal if they were never to end. The spring would 
be eternal if it were not succeeded by the summer. 
A rose would be an eternal flower if it never withered. 
And youth would be eternal were it not for old age and 
death. But what do all such arguments avail? The 
grand, sublime, and glorious system of God carries 
everything away that has its birth from mortality and 
time. 

I have already hinted that sin might have conse- 
quences which were not evil, but not as sin. By the 
infinite wisdom and goodness of the Almighty, sin 
may be of advantage even to the sinner himself; but 
I say again not as sin. If the infinitely Wise and 
Good intended any one thing for good which we 
rightly call sin, that event, in respect to the divine 
intention, is not sin. I have introduced a circum- 



92 A TKEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

stance in the fore part of this work, in which, what I 
am now endeavoring to illustrate, may clearly be 
seen. It is evident that that which Joseph's brethren 
meant unto evil God meant unto good. Now the 
immediate consequences of their sin to them was guilt 
of the first magnitude. Who could calculate the one- 
half of what they endured in consequence of the 
wrong which they had done ? But the consequences 
which God intended in the issue of the event were 
altogether beneficial ; and those who committed the 
sin, by the mercy of God, were made the partakers of 
the benefits contained in the purpose of him who 
meant it for good. 

Again it is evident from the Scriptures that Herod, 
Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel 
were gathered together against Jesus to do what the 
council and the hand of the Almighty had determined 
to be done. (See Acts iv. 27, 28). Had Herod, 
Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel 
any better meaning in crucifying Christ than Joseph's 
brethren had in selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites ? 
All who read the question will answer no. But the 
sacred text says they were gathered together to do 
whatsoever God's hand and counsel had determined to 
be done. Now I ask, was not the determination of the 
murderers of Christ the same with the determination 
of Divine Wisdom ? Says the reader, I cannot say it 
was not, and yet I dare not say it was. I will then 
answer, the Almighty intended all they did should be 
done : but he intended it for a very different purpose 
from what they did who did it. They intended the 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



93 



destruction and overthrow of the doctrine which 
Christ preached, and they hoped the things which he 
had S]3oken concerning them would fail of taking 
place. But the means. which they used to oppose the 
cause of Christ were those with which God intended 
to promote it. They missed of their intentions, and 
the Lord carried the whole of his into effect. What 
Christian is there in the world who will say the con- 
sequences of the death of Christ are not good? or, 
that those who were his murderers, for whom he 
prayed on the cross, will not receive an advantage 
from his death which they meant for evil ? Or who 
can limit the good contained in the designs of the 
Almighty ? But will this rule do, says the reader, to 
apply to all sin? I answer without hesitancy that 
I fully believe it. Food for the body would never 
please the appetite unless we first experienced hunger ; 
the cooling spring would not be sought for if men 
were never thirsty ; health could never be prized 
could we not contrast it with sickness ; ease is appre- 
ciated by the remembrance of pain ; and a physician 
would never be wanted if it were not for our in- 
firmities ; a Saviour would never have been praised 
by his redeemed had they never been in bondage ; 
the song, "Thou hast redeemed us to God out of 
every kingdom and nation," could never be sung had 
redemption not been needed ; a fountain would never 
have been opened for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in 
from sin and uneleanness had it not been for sin and 
un cleanness. Then, says my opponent, we may do 
evil that good may come. This objection has often 



94 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



been stated to me in conversation on this subject. 
My reply is short. There is a self-contradiction in tha 
objection ; to do anything whatever for good is not a 
moral transgression. Had Joseph's brethren been 
taught of God that it was necessary for them to sell 
Joseph to the Ishmaelites that he might go down to 
Egypt and there prepare for the famine, and they had 
done it for the good which God intended, it would 
have , been no more sin in them than there was in the 
design of God. Then it is plain that to do evil that 
good may come is impossible. 

Again had Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and 
the people of Israel intended the good which God 
intended in the crucifixion of Christ, sin would have 
been out of the question. St. Paul asks the question 
to his opposers after he had argued that where sin 
abounded grace did much more abound, " Shall we 
continue in sin that grace may abound ? 55 And an- 
swers it thus, God forbid. How shall we, who are 
dead to sin, live any longer therein ? If we are truly 
enlightened into the nature of the all-abounding grace 
of the Gospel it causes us to die to sin ; and if we are 
dead to sin we shall not live in it. God has for- 
bidden it in the nature of things and rendered it 
impossible. 

As I have limited sin in its nature, the reader will 
not expect to find unlimited consequences attached to 
it in this work. Were it so that the fulness of the 
divine law was perfectly comprehended in the mind of 
the creature and he should go contrary thereto, his sin 
would then be as infinite as the law transgressed ; but 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



95 



I argue that the law transgressed is a law formed in 
the mind of an imperfect being by the imperfect 
knowledge which he obtains of the divine law, which 
is no other than God himself. This knowledge bein^ 
imperfect, forms a law like itself, imperfect and 
mutable; and an imperfect, mutable law does not 
afford data from which to argue endless consequences. 
The sacred oracle declares " the soul that sins shall 
die." If it had added and said, " and shall never live 
again," it would have carried the consequences of sin 
infinitely farther than the Holy Ghost intended. Sin 
is death to the soul as long as it sins, be that time 
longer or shorter. In order to argue an endless con- 
sequence we must first state an infinite cause ; and as 
I have argued sin on a finite scale and in a limited 
circle, I must rationally limit its consequences. 

I will now state two particulars, which the reader 
will find argued in the course of this work, state my 
opponent's objections against them, answer those ob- 
jections, and introduce my second general inquiry by 
stating a third objection. 

1st. Man is dependent in all his volitions, and moves 
by necessity. 

2d. The Almighty has a good intention in every 
volition of man. 

Objection first. If man move by necessity, why do 
the Scriptures abound with exhortations and admoni- 
tions to dissuade from sin, and so many inducements 
to persuade to holiness and virtue? And why are 
there requirements in the law to which man is under 
the necessity of going contrary ? 



96 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



Objection second. If God had a good intention in 
every action or volition of man, why is it said in the 
Scriptures that he is grieved and provoked with us ? 
etc. 

The proposition against which the first objection 
stands answers the objection in all its parts. It was 
in the system of divine wisdom that man should 
experience a consciousness of sin and guilt, without 
which, the subject of my inquiry could never have 
existed. If sin and guilt had never been introduced 
into our system, the plan of grace by atonement could 
never have been exhibited. Sin and guilt could never 
have existed providing there had been no prohibition 
communicated to the intelligent mind ; and, on the 
other hand, if the mind possessed as much liberty to 
go contrary to inducements as it does inclination 
to follow them, inducements would have no possible 
effect; exhortations, admonitions, and warnings would 
be of no possible service. 

If God purposed that man should come to the 
knowledge of his own infirmities in the way that he 
does, he must have intended all the means whereby 
the purpose might be accomplished. And if he 
designed that any degree of moral holiness should be 
found on earth such inducements must influence the 
minds of men which would necessarily produce it. 
That God does, in a strict sense of speaking, require 
more of any of his creatures than they are able to 
perform, is inconsistent with the dictates of good 
reason and destitute of Scripture authority ; and has 
no better foundation for its support than an idea that 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



97 



darkness originates in the sun, or light in an opaque 
body. But does not God require perfect holiness of 
man? Does he not command strict obedience to every 
jot and tittle of his law ? 

I have before argued that the spirit of God's law in 
its infinite fulness was above the capacity of man in a 
finite state in which he was made subject to vanity ; 
and that it was the shadow of the law only that was 
introduced to the creature's understanding, and that 
for the purpose that the offence might abound. Then, 
says my opponent, if you are correct in this statement, 
does it not prove that the requirement is more than 
the abilities of the creature can perform ? And how 
can the difficulty be removed ? 

The subject now in question is a query on which 
many religious disputes have arisen, and much differ- 
ence of sentiments rested. Two grand parties in 
Christendom have been formed by it; and those two 
have subdivided, according to their different modes of 
solving those difficulties, to which they have been 
driven by their antagonists. 

Some have contended that in the beginning man 
was possessed of sufficient ability to have kept the law 
of his Maker perfectly; but that he lost that ability by 
transgression ; and that neither Adam nor his posterity 
was ever able to retrieve it ; but although man has lost 
his ability to obey, God has not lost his right to com- 
mand. This has appeared to many to be sound 
argument. 

Supposing government had an occasion for raising 
an army, and should command a cripple to bear arms 



98 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



and endure fatigue. The poor cripple desires con- 
sideration on account of his infirmities, but is told 
that his father crippled him in infancy, which, if he 
had not done, he would now have been able to endure 
fatigue ; but as his father did him this piece of mis- 
chief in his infancy, he must and ought to comply 
with impossibilities on pain of death! This has 
just the same appearance of sound reason as the 
other. 

Others have endeavored to solve this matter by 
placing a total inability in the will of the creature ; 
arguing that no ability is wanting but a willingness, 
etc. They admit, at the same time, that the power of 
altering the will does not belong to the creature. 
These argue that this inability is criminality. I have 
already shown that will is a consequence arising from 
our perceptions of objects which proves, if our under- 
standing were perfect, our will would be so. The 
criminality, therefore, might be placed on the under- 
standing as well as on the will. The reader will 
observe that I am speaking of criminality, which is 
supposed to be seen by the Allwise in his creatures. 
It certainly cannot be difficult for the reader to see 
that there is as much inability in the understand- 
ing as there is in the will when a man is so much de- 
ceived as to think it more for his happiness to be 
dishonest than to be governed by the principles of 
integrity. 

Others say Adam lost his ability to obey by trans- 
gression, but that God restored it again by the 
Mediator, and man possesses it now as the gift of God 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



99 



through Christ; and argue that it is in the power 
of man to keep the law of God perfectly. If this be 
the case it seems that it might as well have been 
otherwise, as there is not a just man on earth who 
liveth and sinneth not. All who argue this idea 
acknowledge that they have been sinners ; and indeed 
if they did not they would have no part nor lot in the 
son of Jesse. 

Let us now state fairly this Gordian knot, and see 
if we can find a truth that will cut it. If it stand in 
a plain contradiction in words it will the better expose 
its difficulties, and we shall the better know how to 
attack it. I will state it thus, — God requires of man 
what he cannot perform ; all that God requires of man 
man can perform. And now for the truth that will 
shine to illuminate so dark a place. Observe with 
attention ; God's holy, just, and infinitely perfect law 
stands in the eternal constitution of the heavenly man, 
the second Adam, the Lord from heaven ; it requires 
joerfect holiness in Christ the Mediator who is the 
Lord our righteousness. And in him we are able to 
fulfil all righteousness, and stand unaccused and un- 
condemned. I say more, we have never violated that 
perfect law of holiness in the heavenly nature, but 
have fulfilled all it required. Bat we are unable to 
fulfil those divine requirements in our carnal, or old 
man. I have already hinted that perfect wisdom and 
knowledge were necessary in order to fulfil a perfect 
law. And it is in Christ alone that we find all the 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; in him we pos- 
sess every ability to keep the law of God perfectly ; 



100 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT . 



but in the earthly Adam we have not one single 
faculty that is fit for so holy a service. 

I may now venture to state more contradictions. 
I am a fool; and yet I am wise. I am weak; and yet 
I am strong. I am impure ; and yet I am j>ure. I am 
unholy; and yet I am holy. I am condemned; and 
yet I am justified. I am a vessel of dishonor ; and 
yet I am a vessel of glory. I am dead; and yet I live. 
I have lost my life; and yet I have gained it. I fell 
in the field of battle ; and yet gained the victory. 
I am a perishable worm of the dust ; and yet an im- 
mortal spirit. 

When the Lord gave the tables of the covenant to 
Moses on the mount, he went down to the children of 
Israel, found them worshipping the calf which Aaron 
had made, and being angry thereat broke the tables 
which he had received. The Lord again called Moses 
to the Mount and gave him other tables, and gave 
orders for them to be deposited in the ark of the cove- 
nant, where they were preserved. By this we are 
taught the unsafety of the law in our hands in the 
earthly nature, and its safety in Christ the heavenly. 

I come to take notice of the second objection. 
There are many passages of Scripture which represent 
the Almighty as possessing irritable passions like his 
creatures. We are told that it repented him that he 
had made man on the earth, and that it grieved him at 
the heart. These expressions are as strong in their in- 
dications of changeability as any that might be chosen. 
An apostle exhorts not to grieve the Holy Spirit ; 
and it is not unfrequent that God is provoked to 



A TKEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



101 



anger and jealousy according to scripture. My oppo- 
nent will not argue that we ought to understand those 
Scriptures as strictly and literally true ; no man in 
his senses can believe them so and yet believe the 
Almighty unchangeable. Supposing my opponent 
should give his own opinion of this question ; I have 
no doubt but he would remove the objection to all 
intents. I understand those Scriptures, as many 
others do, to be spoken according to the dark under- 
standing of man who is ignorant of the real character 
of God ; and according to the representations made by 
the law to the unreconciled mind. To admit, in a 
strict sense of speaking, that God was ever grieved to 
the heart for what he did himself, or for what his 
creatures do, is more than I can do and believe in the 
perfections of a Supreme Being. St. James says, 
" With God there is no variableness nor shadow of 
turning." This expression is as strong an indication 
of the unchangeability of the Almighty as any that 
might be chosen. St. Paul informs us that God 
works all things after the counsel of his own will. 
Our being led by a carnal and fleshly mind is un- 
doubtedly what the apostle meant by grieving the 
Holy Spirit; as the motions or vibrations of the carnal 
man are opposed to those of the heavenly ; but that 
the eternal Spirit of God ever felt grief, is more than 
we can rationally admit, as that would reduce the 
Almighty to a state of suffering. It is very evident 
that the Scriptures represent the Almighty in ex- 
tremely different characters ; and I confess I cannot 
reconcile them in any other way than by the two 



102 



A TEEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



covenants, or what is the same, flesh and spirit. Our 
ideas of God, while under the legal dispensation, 
walking in fleshly minds, are consonant to that 
character which the Scripture represents our Creator 
in, as wrathful, filled with indignation towards us for 
our sins, and every day angry. Those ideas which 
the mind entertains of the Father of all mercies, when 
enlightened by the spirit of the new man, and while 
walking in the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which 
maketh free from the law of sin, are altogether conso- 
nant to that endearing character given in Scripture, 
of our Father who is in heaven, who causeth his sun to 
shine on the evil and on the good ; and sendeth rain 
upon the just and upon the unjust; who loved us 
while we were yet enemies, and sent his Son to die in 
attestation of his love to his creatures ; who is good 
unto all, and whose tender mercies are over all the 
works of his hands; who is of one mind, and changeth 
not. 

Says my opponent, if the Almighty govern all the 
affairs of mankind according to his own appointment ; 
if he were never disappointed ; suffers no violation of 
will ; but does, in all things, and by all things main- 
tain and support his own eternal system of divine 
goodness, what room do we find for the necessity of 
atonement, whereby peace is made by the blood of the 
cross ? 

By this question I come to my second general sub- 
ject, viz. : Atonement for Sin. 



Part II. 



ATONEMENT FOR SIN. 



CHAPTER I. 

ERRONEOUS THEORIES OF ATONEMENT. 

In my inquiries on this momentous subject, I shall, 
First, examine three doctrinal tenets on atonement ; 
from which, I shall beg leave to dissent, and give my 
reasons therefor. 

Secondly, Show the necessity of atonement, and 
where satisfaction must be made. 

Thirdly, Inquire into the personage and character 
of the Mediator who makes the atonement, and his 
ability to perform the work. 

Fourthly, Of atonement in its nature. 

Christian divines, in general, have agreed in sup- 
posing sin to be an infinite evil, being a violation of an 
infinite law, and, therefore, that the law required 
an infinite sacrifice ; short of which no atonement 
could be made ; that the transgression of Adam 
brought the whole human race into the same situation 
of sin and misery, and subjected them all to the 
infinite penalty of an infinite law, which they had 
violated in their parent before they individually 
existed. 

103 



104 



A TEEATISE OX ATOXEMEXT. 



After the above agreement many different roads are 
taken ; and divines of the greatest abilities, and of the 
first rank among the literati, have drained the last 
faculty of invention in plodding through the dark 
regions of metaphysics to bring up a Samuel to 
explain the solecism of satisfying an infinite dissatis- 
faction. 

The plan of redemption, as held by many, may be 
reduced to the following compendium. God, from all 
eternity, foreseeing that man would sin, provided 
a Mediator for a certain part of his posterity, who 
should suffer the penalty of the law for them, and that 
these elect ones, chosen by God from the rest of man- 
kind, will alone, be benefited by the atonement : that 
in order that the sacrifice might be adequate to the 
crime for which the sinner was condemned to ever- 
lasting or endless suffering, God himself assumed a 
body of flesh and blood, such as the delinquent was 
constituted in, and suffered the penalty of the law by 
death, and arose from the dead. By this process, the 
demand of the law was completely answered, and the 
debt due to Divine Justice, by the elect, was fully and 
amply paid. But that this atonement does not affect 
those who were not elected as objects of mercy, but 
that they are left to suffer endlessly for what Adam 
did before they were born. It is true they are a little 
cautious about saying that God himself absolutely 
died ! But they say that Christ, who was crucified, 
was really God himself, which must, in effect, amount 
to the same thing. And in fact if the Infinite did not 
suffer death, the whole plan falls, for it is by an 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



105 



infinite sacrifice that they pretend to satisfy an infinite 
dissatisfaction. 

Why the above ideas should ever have been imbibed 
by men of understanding and study, I can but scarcely 
satisfy myself ; their absurdities are so glaring that it 
seems next to impossible that men of sobriety and 
sound judgment should ever imbibe them or avoid 
seeing them. 

I have already sufficiently refuted the idea of an 
infinite sin, which opens to a plain path in which the 
mind may run, and run clear of all those perplexities 
which have served to confuse rather than enlighten 
mankind. 

If sin be not infinite, the dissatisfaction occasioned 
by sin is not infinite, therefore an infinite sacrifice is 
not required. But, for the sake of illustration, we will 
for a moment admit that the doctrine of atonement 
stands on the ground over which we have just gone. 
I w T ill state it as it is often stated by those who believe 
it, which is J>y the likeness of debt and credit. The 
sinner owed a debt to Divine Justice which he was 
unable to discharge; the Divine Being cannot, con- 
sistently with his honor, dispense with the pay, but 
says I must have what is my due ; but as the debtor 
has not ability to pay the smallest fraction, Divine 
Wisdom lays a deep concerted mysterious plan for the 
debt to be discharged. And how was it ? Why, for 
God to pay it himself ! 

My neighbor owes me a hundred pounds ; time of 
payment comes, and I make a demand for my dues. 
Says my neighbor, my misfortunes have been such 



106 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT,, 



that I am not the possessor of the smallest fraction of 
property in the world ; and as much as I owe you I 
am worse than nothing. I declare to him, positively, 
that I will not lose so much as a fraction of the 
interest, and leave him. A friend calls and asks me 
how I succeeded in obtaining my dues of my neigh- 
bor ; I reply, my neighbor is not, nor will he ever be 
able to pay me any part of my demand. My friend 
says he is sorry that I should lose my debt. I answer, 
I shall not lose it. I have very fortunately, in my 
meditations on the subject, thought of a method by 
which I can avail myself of the whole to my full 
satisfaction ; and I think it is a method which no 
person in the world, but myself, could ever have dis- 
covered. My friend is curious and impatient to know 
the mighty secret never before found out. The reader 
may guess his confusion on my telling him that as 
I have the sum already by me, I am now going to pay 
up the obligation before the interest is any larger ! 
This has been called the Gospel -plan, which contains 
the dej)ths of infinite wisdom. 

I should be pleased to see, what I have never seen, 
professors following such example in obtaining what 
the poor widow, the fatherless, and the needy, owe 
them. But, says the advocate for the plan, a distinc- 
tion ought to be made between the persons in the 
Godhead. It was the second person in the Godhead 
who paid this infinite debt to the first ; therefore it is 
not altogether like a person paying his own demand. 
I say, in answer, if the first and second persons in the 
Godhead are not so essentially one as to make the 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



107 



debts due to one belong equally to the other, and pay- 
ment also, they are not so essentially one as to be 
represented by two distinct persons related only by 
Adam, who are in company in merchandise. But for 
the sake of carrying the argument still further, I will 
admit this variety of persons in an infinite, indivisible 
being ! And also the plan of atonement on the prin- 
ciple of the second person's paying the demand to the 
first. And here it w r ill be necessary to introduce the 
third person in the Godhead, as it is contended that 
the third person makes known to the debtor what the 
creditor determines concerning him. Then the plan 
of the doctrine may be represented by the following 
similitude : A owes B the sum of one thousand 
pounds ; the time of payment comes, demand is made. 
A is not worth a farthing, neither is it in his power to 
raise a fraction of the money. B immediately com- 
mences a process against A, of which C, a friend 
of A's, being informed, goes to B, asks him how large 
a demand he holds against A. B informs him, a 
thousand pounds and the interest. And A is worth 
nothing? asks C. Nothing, answers B. Would you 
make a deduction of twenty-five per cent, if you could 
have the money down ? asks C. Not the least deduc- 
tion, answers B. You will, at least, throw in the 
interest, says C. Not the smallest fraction, answers 
B. Well, says C, if you have no mercy on the poor 
and distressed, I will have the pleasure of relieving 
the debtor alone; counts out the money in full, and 
receives the obligation to bestow on his friend A. 
B sends a servant immediately to inform A that he has 



108 



A TEEATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



concluded to forgive him the debt. A is transported 
at the news, flies to tell his wife and children the 
tidings of mercy, and all join in praising such 
heavenly benevolence. C comes in, the same moment, 
with the obligation in his hand ; modestly gives it to 
A, desiring him to accept it as a token of un dis- 
sembled friendship. A is confounded, asks C how he 
came by the obligation. C informs him that he paid 
every farthing of the money for it, the creditor would 
not make the least deduction. I leave the reader to 
judge whether the creditor showed any mercy to the 
debtor, and whether B's pretensions of favoring A do 
not wear the appearance of hypocrisy. It is contended 
by those who hold to this debt and the payment of it, 
that the salvation of the sinner is by being forgiven ; 
yet they contend that the debt is paid. But how I 
can forgive a man a debt, and oblige him to pay it, is 
more than I can see. 

Again, admitting the system true, I wish to inquire 
into the propriety of an innocent person's suffering for 
one who is guilty. It is Scripture, reason, and good 
law never to condemn the innocent in order to excul- 
pate the delinquent. Supposing a foreign court sends 
a person who is old in conspiracies and blood, to 
America, to lay a deep concerted plan to murder the 
President of the Union, and a number of the first 
officers in the Federal government, for purposes mis- 
chievous to our political existence; and he should so 
far succeed as to engage a number in this wicked 
design, and finally makes the attempt : his plans are 
discovered by government and detected, but not until 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



109 



numbers have fallen a sacrifice to his mischievous 
endeavors. The leader of these seditious murderers 
is taken and condemned to be executed ; and the 
voice of every friend of justice and equity is against 
the criminal. But what would be the consternation 
of the good people of the United States on being in- 
formed that the good president of the Union, the man 
whom the people delighted to honor, was executed in 
the room of this seditious person, and the wicked 
murderer set at liberty? Is it possible to conceive 
that there is a single person in the world who would 
call this a just execution? If it be said that the 
president freely offered himself in the room of the 
criminal, it alters not the case in the eye of justice. 
If an innocent man can justly be put to death because 
he consents to it willingly, a guilty one may be ac- 
quitted because he prefers it. But it is further argued 
that the authority had power to raise the president 
from the dead, which done, renders the work just and 
glorious. I say, in answer, that if the authority had 
this power, it might as well have executed the real 
criminal, and raised him from the dead, as to perform 
this work on one who was not guilty. What is the 
most shocking of anything in this system of atonement, 
is the partiality represented in the Almighty ; for ad- 
mitting the plan rational, as it respects those circum- 
stances in which I have shown its absurdity, what can 
we find in Scripture or reason that justifies such 
infinite partiality in our Creator ? or what can, in the 
least, serve as evidence to prove him possessed of it ? 
Have we not reason to believe our Creator possessed 



110 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



of as much goodness as he has communicated to us ? 
Can we rationally believe that he is wanting in those 
principles of goodness which he has placed in our 
understanding? When he saw the whole progeny 
of Adam in the same situation by reason of sin, one no 
more guilty than another, why should he propose a 
plan of mercy for some few of them, and disregard the 
awful circumstances of the rest? The sacred oracle 
declares God to be no respecter of persons ; if this be 
true, he is not a partial being. Jesus taught the 
character of God to his disciples by turning their at- 
tention to nature, observing the equal distribution of 
rain and sunshine, on the evil and on the good, on the 
just and on the unjust. Supposing Joseph had 
dealt out bread plentifully to two of his brethren in 
Egypt, and had starved the rest to death, would it 
have looked like impartiality ? It is argued that none 
of them deserved a crumb from Joseph, whom they 
had sold ; and if he pleased to give to one and not to 
another, he had a right so to do. Then, I say, he had 
a right to be partial. I am travelling through a large 
and extensive wood, and many miles from any inhab- 
itants ; I find ten persons who are lost ; they have 
been out of provisions for several days ; and having 
fatigued themselves in wandering from hill to hill, 
from stream to stream, striving, to the utmost of their 
abilities to find inhabitants ; having given up all hopes 
of ever seeing their homes again, and having, in their 
minds, bid their wives and children a long farewell, 
they are waiting for hunger to do its last work ! The 
moment I discover myself to them, with large supplies 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. Ill 



of wholesome and rich provisions, every eye glistens 
with unexpected joy ; the current of life starts afresh 
in their veins, and they all advance to meet me on 
their enfeebled hands and knees, with eagerness to 
receive the staff of life! I hasten to improve the 
opjDortunity of showing my sovereignty and goodness; 
I feed five of them to the full, the other five I neglect. 
They beg for the smallest crust, which I do not want, 
but to no effect. Those whom I feed solicit me, every 
mouthful they eat, to bestow some on their fellow- 
sufferers, but I refuse. I tell them, however, not to 
construe my conduct into partiality, but to learn my 
power and sovereignty by it. The five whom I have 
fed I assist out of the wood, and leave the rest to their 
wants. My conduct in the above affair appears so 
much blacker than my paper is white, I choose rather 
to leave the reader to make his comments than to 
write my own. 

I inquire still further, did the Almighty know, before 
he made man that he would become a sinner? Did he 
know that he would deserve an endless punishment ? 
If the answer be in the negative, it supposes God to 
be wanting in knowledge, and that he created beings 
at an infinite risk, as he did not know what would be 
the consequences. If the question be answered in the 
positive, it proves that an infinite cruelty existed in 
God ; for unless that was the case he would never 
have created beings who he knew would be infinitely 
the losers by their existence. 

Those who believe in the system which I am 
examining, believe in the existence of the devil, 



112 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT, 



whose existence I have refuted in this work. I am 
willing, however, for the sake of the argument, to 
admit the existence of their God and devil like- 
wise. But I wish to inquire, which of them is, in 
reality, the worst being. God, when he created man- 
kind, perfectly knew that some of them would suffer 
endless torment for their sins; he must, therefore, 
have intended them for that purpose. For, it is incon- 
sistent to suppose that the Almighty would create 
without a purpose ; and his purpose could not be 
contrary to his knowledge. The matter then stands 
thus, God created millions of beings for endless misery, 
which they could not escape ; the devil is desirous 
of having them miserable, and does all in his power to 
effect it. Now, reader, judge between these two 
beings. Had this devil been consulted by the Al- 
mighty when he laid the plan of man's final destiny, 
I cannot conceive him capable of inventing one more 
eligible to his infernal disposition than this which I 
am now disputing. 

As reason will not consent to the plan of God as 
described in the foregoing scheme, I will show that 
the Scriptures equally oppose it. It is granted that 
Jesus Christ died for mankind, as the Scriptures de- 
clare ; but not in the way in which thousands have 
believed. But supposing he died instead of the sinner, 
in the way which I dispute, I still wish to prove that 
he died for the whole of Adam's posterity as much 
as he did for any. If Isaiah did not believe that 
that would be the case, I cannot reconcile his words to 
his opinion, which I find in chap. liii. ver. 5, 6 : " But 



A TEEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



113 



he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised 
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was 
upon him ; and with his stripes w^e are healed. All 
we, like sheep, have gone astray : We have turned 
every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on 
him the iniquity of us all." St. Paul must have been 
of this opinion when he wrote to Timothy, or his 
words are not expressive of his belief. (See 1 Tim. 
ii. 5, 6). " For there is one God, and one Mediator 
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ; who 
gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due 
time." (1st General Epistle of John ii. 1, 2). "My 
little children, these things write I unto you, that ye 
sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the 
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but 
also for the sins of the whole world." (Heb. ii. 9). 
" But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than 
the angels, for the suffering of death, now crowned 
with glory and honor ; that he, by the grace of God, 
should taste death for every man." The above Scrip- 
tures, with their connections and corresponding pas- 
sages, as fully prove that Christ died for all men, as 
any one thing can be proved from the Bible. Now, 
as there is not, in all the Scripture, a single hint to 
the reverse of these passages which I have introduced, 
it appears strange and unaccountable to me that any 
person who professes to believe the testimony of the 
Bible should ever have entertained the idea that what 
these passages say is false, and that which is not said, 
in contradiction to what is, is true ! 



114 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



Look, ye readers, and submit to astonishment, at 
what has been believed in, as divine trutho An 
Almighty, infinitely wise and good being creates an 
innumerable multitude of rational intelligences ; they 
rebel against him, and raise an infinite dissatisfaction 
in his mind toward them-; this infinite dissatis- 
faction gets removed toward part of the offenders by 
the sacrifice of innocence ! With the rest, God is still 
displeased ; yet he is Almighty and infinitely wise, 
and employs his power and wisdom to make the 
works of his own hand as miserable as their natures 
will bear, for being just such creatures as he knew 
they would be before he made them. But it is argued 
that God's knowing what sort of creatures men would 
be, did not influence them in the smallest degree to 
be what they are. Let this argument be granted. 
But did not God know what would influence men to 
be what they are ? Answer, yes. Was it in his 
power to remove this influential cause ? If it were, 
Avhy did he not do it, if it were like to displease him ? 
If it were not in his power to prevent the mischief, 
I wish to know whether it were in the creature's 
power to prevent it? If it were not in the power 
of either of them to prevent the operation of things 
in the way in which they have, and do take j^lace, 
why is God's anger so warm against his poor impotent 
offspring? It seems an unhappy circumstance, for 
both Creator and creature. The Creator is not satis- 
fied with his creatures ; his creatures find themselves 
introduced into an existence infinitely worse than 
none. I am born into this world of sorrow and 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



115 



trouble ; the first vibration of sense is want ; I en- 
deavor to supply my wants, and to maintain my 
existence, which my Maker has bestowed upon me ; 
but as soon as I come to years of understanding, I am 
told of an infinite debt which stands against me, 
which I owed thousands of years before I was born ; 
and that my Maker is so angry with me, and has been, 
ever since the debt was due, that he has prepared a 
furnace of endless flames to torment me in, according 
to the due requirements of justice! My father gives 
me his farm, and puts me in possession of it ; I am 
pleased, and prize it very highly. In consequence of my 
possession, I paint to myself many pleasing j)rospects ; 
but, to my mortification, a person comes and presents 
me with a mortgage of my farm for five times its 
value, the mortgage running so as to hold the pos- 
sessor to clear it ; I will leave the reader to say 
whether my father was kind or unkind. Yet the 
circumstance into which the Almighty has introduced 
millions of his creatures, is infinitely worse according 
to the doctrine which I am examining. It is argued, 
with much assurance, that God has a just right to do 
with his creatures as he pleases, because he has it in 
his power so to do; and that he never does anything 
because it is right ; but what he does, is right because 
he does it. 

If the above statement be just, moral holiness con- 
sists in the power of action, and not in the disposition 
that designs the action. If so, my argument in favor 
of sin's existing only in the design of the actor and 
not in the action, is groundless ; and we are driven to 



116 



A TEEATTSE ON ATONEMENT . 



say that unholiness, or sin, is the want of power to 
perform an action ; and holiness consists in having the 
power to do it. One man designs to murder another 
for his money, he makes the attempt, and fails; his sin 
consisted in not having power to execute his design ; 
but in the design there is no evil. On the other 
hand, he makes the attempt, and succeeds; here is 
no evil at all, because he had power to do it. On this 
principle, everything that can be done is moral holi- 
ness ; and everything that cannot be done, is sin, or 
moral evil. 

Here we are presented with a picture the most to 
be dreaded of anything which the imagination of man 
is capable of inventing. Power moving on in front, 
exhibiting tyrannic majesty in every action ; and 
meagre justice in the rear, obsequiously pronouncing 
all right! If these things be so, our senses are nothing 
but mediums of deception ; and all our experience has 
served us no other purpose than to make us more 
ignorant. Who is there in the world, possessing com- 
mon sense, that does not dread and revolt from 
power, in every instance, where they see it connected 
with an evil disposition? Are we right in wishing 
our enemies weak? We are, and that because their 
strength being directed by their wicked designs, gives 
us fear. 

But, for the sake of the argument still further, let it 
be granted, that God being supreme, had a right to do 
because he had the power. And he creates millions 
of beings, whom he intends for endless torments, and 
puts his whole design into execution; and this is 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



117 



called supreme goodness. Now I wish to know how 
a supreme evil could be described? All will grant 
that evil is in opposition to good ; then an opposite 
description would be just. To create, with an inten- 
tion to make eternally happy, and to put that design 
into execution, would be supreme evil! But, ac- 
cording to the doctrine which I am examining, God 
contains these two characters in himself, having 
created some for one purpose, and some for the other. 
It will be of no advantage to the reader to have the 
absurdity of the above proposition any more exposed 
than enough to have it rejected. I never heard or 
read any argument to prove the propriety of the dis- 
puted proposition. It is a begged proposition, and 
stands without the least shadow of evidence from 
Scripture or reason ; but it requires no great ingenuity 
to see what the chimera was invented for; without it, 
the whole plan and scheme of atonement, which I am 
now examining, would fall for want of foundation. 

There are some of Paul's writings to the Romans, 
which have been used by divines, to prove the partial 
plan of salvation true, of which, I think it will be 
proper to take notice in this place. Rom. ix. 
21, 22, has been made great use of in order to prove 
that God made some men vessels of eternal dishonor, 
and others vessels of eternal glory. The words read 
as follows : " Hath not the potter power over the clay, 
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and 
another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show 
his wrath and to make his power known, endured 
with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to 



118 



A TREATISE OX ATOXEMEXT. 



destruction." In order that the reader may see that 
the passage has not the meaning which has been gen- 
erally attached to it, let him observe that the two 
vessels mentioned in the text are made of the same 
lump ; which also may be seen in God's communica- 
tion to Jeremiah. (See Jer. xviii. 3, 4) : " Then 
I went down to the potter's house, and behold he 
wrought a work on the wheels, and the vessel that he 
made of clay was marred in the hands of the potter, so 
he made it again another vessel as it seemed good to 
the potter to make it." Observe, the first vessel being 
marred, was dishonorable, and it marred in the potter's 
hand. The potter did not make the vessel perfectly 
sound and good, and lay it away whole, and the vessel 
mar itself afterwards; but it marred while in the hand 
of the potter. The potter did not condemn the clay 
as good for nothing because it marred ; he did not cast 
it away and take other clay to make another vessel ; 
but of the same clay made a vessel as it seemed good 
unto him to make it. This vessel not being marred, 
was a vessel of honor. Here the reader may see the 
power of God manifested in making of the same lump 
a vessel of honor and a vessel of dishonor. 

The thread of the apostle's discourse to the Romans, 
in which he introduced the passage above written, 
was intended to show the distinction between law and 
gospel, or flesh and spirit ; by turning to the eighth 
chapter, the reader will find himself assisted in the 
introduction of this particular. We then say that as 
man stands in the earthly Adam he is a marred vessel. 
Christ himself, when for us he w T as made a sin-offering, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



119 



in the fleshly nature was "more marred than any man, 
and his form than the sons of men." But in his resur- 
rection, he was a vessel of honor and immortal glory ; 
" and as we have borne the image of the earthly, we 
shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Further, 
see the two vessels described in 1 Cor. xv. 41 : " It is 
sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is 
sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in * 
weakness, it is raised in power ; it is sown a natural 
body, it is raised a spiritual body." Again, Rom. 
xi. 7, etc. : " What then ? Israel hath not obtained 
that which he seeketh; but the election hath ob- 
tained it, and the rest were blinded (according as it is 
written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, 
eyes that they should not see, and ears that they 
should not hear) unto this day. And David saith, 
let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a 
stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them ; let 
their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and 
bow down their back alway." 

On this passage, and others like it, is built the doc- 
trine of limited salvation, by Jesus Christ, according 
to the foreknowledge and predestination of the Al- 
mighty. It is argued that those who are here called 
the elect are those for whom Christ died, and tkose 
alone who will finally obtain salvation by him. But 
why any person should make such a mistake in reading 
this chapter I am at a loss. The salvation of the elect 
is not argued in this chapter ; but the certainty of the 
salvation of those who were blinded, and the propriety 
of believing it, occupies the greatest part of it. Ob- 



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A TREATISE OX ATOXE3IEXT. 



serve the words next to those I hare quoted above, 
verse 11, etc.: "I say then have they stumbled that 
they should fall? God forbid : but rather through their 
full salvation is come unto the Gentiles to provoke 
them unto jealousy. Now, if the fall of them be the 
riches of the world, and the diminishing of them 
the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their ful- 
ness ? " Again, verse 15 : " For if the casting away 
of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the 
receiving of them be but life from the dead ? " Again, 
in his argument to the Romans, he endeavors to show 
them, by the similitude of the branches of olive trees, 
that they ought to believe that those blinded ones, 
though broken off through unbelief, would be grafted 
in again. See verse 24: "For if thou wert cut out 
of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert 
grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree ; how 
much more shall these, which be the natural branches, 
be grafted into their own olive tree?" The apostle 
seems desirous to instruct the Roman Church, and 
argues the point fervently. (See verses 25, 26) : "For 
I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant 
of this mystery (lest ye should be wise in your own 
conceits), that blindness in part is happened to Israel 
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so 
all Israel shall be saved ; as it is written, there shall 
come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away 
ungodliness from Jacob." Compare the last verse 
which I have quoted with Levit. xxvi. 44, 45. "And 
yet for all that, when they be in the land of their 
enemies I will not cast them away, neither will I 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



121 



abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break my 
covenant with them : for I am the Lord their God. 
But I will for their sakes remember the covenant 
of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the 
land of Egypt, in the sight of the heathen that I might 
be their God : I am the Lord." And Is. xlv. 25 : 
"In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, 
and shall glory." Many like passages might be quoted 
from various parts of the Scripture ; but, perhaps, the 
above will suffice for this particular purpose. More, 
of the like nature, will be noticed in the sequel of this 
work. 

The Scriptures have been as much violated, to 
maintain the doctrine which I am examining, as good 
reason is, by supposing God to be so infinitely partial, 
as he must be, in the eye of reason, in order to be 
what the doctrine represents him. 

I shall now invite the attention of the reader to 
another system of atonement, which was undoubtedly 
formed with a view to shun the absurdities in the 
former, and to get rid of some of the consequences 
that were naturally deductible from that idea of the 
sufferings of Christ. This system supposes that the 
atonement by Christ was not intended for the sal- 
vation of any part of the human race ; that its main 
end and sole object was the glory of the Supreme 
Being as manifested in his holy and righteous law. In 
support of this plan it is argued that it is inconsistent 
for infinite wisdom and goodness to prefer an inferior 
object to a superior one ; that all creation, when com- 
pared with the Creator, sinks into nothing, bearing no 



122 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



possible proportion to the infinite Jehovah ; of course 
that God always has his own glory in view as his 
supreme object in all he does. 

This plan agrees w^ith the former in supposing sin 
to be of infinite magnitude and deserving of endless 
punishment; that as the law of God is infinite like 
himself, finite man is infinitely to blame for not ful- 
filling all his requirements ; and that the penalty 
of the law is endless misery, which misery Christ sus- 
tained ; not with a view of acquitting the sinner, nor 
in room and stead of the transgressor as is supposed in 
the other plan ; but for the honor of divine justice and 
the glory of his Father. It is further argued that by 
Christ's suffering the penalty of the law, justice is as 
fully satisfied as if all mankind had been made mis- 
erable for an eternity. And this being the case, it is 
now just and right for God to acquit as many of the 
sinful race of Adam as is consistent with his grand 
object, which is himself; yet, by no means rendering- 
it unjust for God to punish, to all eternity, as many as 
is necessary in order for the satisfying of the same 
grand object. 

I first inquire into the propriety of the argument on 
which this plan of atonement seems to be founded ; 
which is, that God always acts for his own infinite and 
incomprehensible glory ; never stooping so low as to 
act with an intention for the good of his creatures. 

1st. I ask is God as infinitely glorious as he can be 
or not ? If it be answered that he is ; then if his 
object in all he does is to augment his own glory, he 
never has, nor will he ever accomplish his intention. 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 123 



If it be argued that it is not to augment his own 
glory, but to secure it and maintain it in its proper 
splendor, it argues it to be of a perishable nature, and 
that it would decay were it not for the continual 
vigilance of the Almighty in preserving it. If it be 
argued that neither of these objects is right, but that 
it is the manifestation of his glory to intelligent 
beings, which is the grand design or object of God in 
all his acts without any reference to the effect which 
this manifestation has on those to whom it is made, I 
say the object has now dwindled into annihilation ; 
there is not the smallest imaginable atom of it left. 
To suj)pose that any rational being can wish or desire 
to accomplish any piece of labor without having any 
reference to the consequences, is too glaringly absurd 
to need refutation. Now the nature of the propo- 
sition, which I am examining, confines the motive 
of Deity within himself and himself from his creation. 
In order, therefore, to look at the Almighty as he is by 
this doctrine represented, we must look at him as 
destitute of a creation, and view him abstractly from 
all his creatures. But may I ask what title to give 
that being of whom we speak ? The name Jehovah 
truly has reference to his self-existence and to his 
character as the giver of existence also. The name 
God implies a being who is worshipped. Lord signi- 
fies a possessor. "I am that I am " has reference to an 
unchangeable being, but does not determine a being 
of goodness. I ask again what do we know of an 
Almighty only by his works? If his existence can 
ever be determined by any other means, I am ignorant 



124 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



of the way. What do we know but by our senses ? 
Have we any sense of good or evil that does not con- 
cern created beings ? We may say, if we please, that 
God acts for his own essential good abstractly from 
his creation ; but what do we mean by it? An action, 
for the good of any being, presupposes that being in 
want ; and if in want, then not infinitely happy. 
If God be not infinitely happy he never can be. 
I inquire further, by what data can we determine that 
God is a good being ? Can we determine it by any 
other criterion than by the effects of what he does as 
it concerns his creatures ? The truth undoubtedly is, 
that just as far as we can look into creation, provi- 
dence, and redemption, and see the harmony and 
beauty of them, and see that all were calculated for 
the good of created intelligences, whom these things 
concern, we are satisfied that he who conducts the 
whole is a good being. And if we say he is good, 
without this understanding, we acknowledge a proposi- 
tion for which we are unable to adduce the smallest 
reason. Again, is it not wrong to make a separation 
where the Almighty does not ? Is he not perfectly 
joined to his creation ? Do we not live, move, and 
have our being in God ? Were we not created of his 
fulness? Had Deity anything of which to create 
beings but his own eternal nature ? I know it has 
been said that God created all things out of nothing, 
etc. ; but such an idea never will be imbibed by me 
until I can form, in imagination at least, a notion 
of how much nothing it takes to make the least 
imaginable something. If all things were created 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



125 



of the infinite Jehovah, as great a part of his creation 
as we take from him, so great a proportion we take 
from his fulness. God never could be more than 
infinite in his fulness ; then, to take the smallest 
creature from him, which he created of that infinite 
fulness, you have left something less than infinity. 
Now, if it be argued that God acts for the good 
of himserf, considering his creatures to belong to his 
fulness, I am perfectly agreed ; but to say that the 
Almighty has, or ever could have a motive, in action, 
that did not embrace every consequence that could 
arise from what he did, would be limiting his omni- 
science ; or to say that he did not intend good to all 
whom his acts concern, would be limiting his goodness 
and an impeachment on his justice. 

I have before, in this work, contended that all the 
attributes which we ascribe to God we call good, on 
account of the advantages which we derive from such 
principles. We are told of a God who acts for his 
own benefit abstractly from his creation ; and that in 
millions of cases he finds it most for his glory to make 
his rational, hoping, wanting creatures endlessly mis- 
erable ; and this is called goodness. We are likewise 
told of a devil who acts for his own gratification, and 
who delights in making God's creatures miserable ; 
and this is called badness. But, for my part, according 
to such statements, the difference between goodness 
and badness is so small I can hardly distinguish it. 
It is profane, in my opinion, to attribute a disposition 
to the Almighty which we can justly condemn in our- 
selves. A man who should act from such a selfish 



126 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT, 



principle as is attributed to God, would render himself 
wholly unworthy of the protection of common law. 
And shall we thus represent our kind and merciful 
Father, from whom ten thousand streams of goodness 
continually flow to his wanting and needy creatures? 
No; let every vibration of sense within us acknowledge 
his bountiful hand, which is never closed. 

I have already labored, in this .work, to show that 
sin is finite, and not committed against an infinite law. 
I shall, however, now call into examination a subject 
something like it, which is that of penalty ; as it is 
contended that the penalty of God's law is endless 
punishment, etc. 

I first inquire why does a legislature affix penalties 
to laws which it makes ? Answer, the first reason is, 
the strength and security of government. 2d. That 
the punishment may serve to reclaim the delinquent. 
3d. That the punishment of a criminal may serve to 
deter others from the commission of like crimes. 
4th. In many cases, to keep the delinquent, by con- 
finement or death, from doing any more mischief. 

Now let us look into the government of an Almighty 
Being, and see how the matter of penalty will operate 
there. Observe the penalty is endless misery. I ask, 
is this necessary to secure the government of an Al- 
mighty Being? "Would Ins government be in danger 
if this penalty were not enacted to his law ? Sap- 
posing a legislature of men had the power in their 
hands of causing all the community on whom its laws 
were binding to love their laws in every requirement, 
and with vigilance to attend to the faithful discharge 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 127 

of their duties in all things, would it be necessary for 
them to enact penalties to their laws ? Allowing the 
legislature to have such power, who, in the world, 
would say, it is not best to exercise it; that it is 
better to have penal laws, and let the people have 
their wicked, obdurate hearts, so that now and then 
we may have a poor criminal to execute? I can 
hardly believe that any will contend that penalty is 
necessary in the law of God in order to secure his 
government. Is there any scruple respecting God's 
power to turn the hearts of his creatures as he pleases? 
If there be not, then there is no need of a penalty in 
his law, in order for the security of his government. 

2d. Is this penalty necessary in order to reclaim the 
delinquent ? Answer, that is impossible. The penalty 
being endless punishment, it can have no object in 
reclaiming the punished. The execution of such a 
penalty on any of God's creatures would prove the 
contractedness of his goodness, as no possible good 
could be communicated to a victim of such punish- 
ment. Divine truth says, God is good unto all, and 
his tender mercies are over all the works of his hands. 
To say God is good to a creature of his whom he 
irrevocably dooms to endless torments, is a violation 
of our senses ; and no person, in a moment of sobriety, 
will believe it. It is then evident that such a penalty 
would not be necessary to reclaim the sinner. 

3d. Is it necessary to inflict such a penalty on the 
transgressor, in order to deter others from the commis- 
sion of sin ? Answer, no ; for, according to the doc- 
trine which I am examining, the first transgression 



128 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

committed involved the whole human race in the 
delinquency ; and an execution of such a penalty 
would be the endless misery of the whole family 
of man ; there would not have been one left to be 
deterred from sinning, or even to tell the news ! 

4th. Is such a penalty necessary in order to keep the 
sinner from sinning any more ? So far from that, this 
penalty would fix the delinquents in a situation in 
which they could do nothing but sin to an endless 
eternity. No moral being can be miserable as suffering 
conscious guilt without sin ; therefore, in order for 
endless misery to be inflicted, endless transgression is 
necessary. 

Look, kind reader, and see what an absurdity lies 
here. Because a being has sinned once, the law 
which he violated requires that he should continue 
in transgression ! Well, he complies ; will the law 
justify him? But, says the reader, I do not under- 
stand you. Why, the matter is plain ; if a moral 
being cannot be miserable without sin, he must con- 
tinue in sin in order to be miserable. Then, if God's 
law requires endless misery, it requires endless trans- 
gression ! But, it is argued, that a law cannot exist 
without a penalty. This, undoubtedly, is an error. 
The largest signification of the word law, is governing 
power. (See Rom. vii. 23). "But I see another law 
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity unto the law of sin, 
which is in my members." This law of sin in the 
members, which brings the man into captivity, is 
undoubtedly the power of the flesh, which lusteth 



A TKEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



129 



against the spirit, that we cannot do the things we 
would. Now, I ask, is there any penalty to this law? 
Does this law administer any condemnation to those 
who do not obey it ? Most surely it does not. Then 
pass to the eighth chapter and third verse : " For the 
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the law of sin and death." This law is 
undoubtedly the governing power of the heavenly 
nature, which overcomes the carnal mind, and delivers 
the soul from the bondage of sin. I ask, again, is 
there any penalty to this law ? Is there a dispensation 
of condemnation administered by this law of life ? 
Truth says, the wages of sin is death. Does this death 
flow from the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus ? 
Surely not. " To be carnally minded is death." If 
carnal mindedness be that death which is the wages 
of sin, surely it does not flow from the spirit of life. 
" To be spiritually minded is life and peace." 

God's moral law is like himself, love. " God is love, 
and he who loveth dwelleth in God and God in him." 
It requires all moral beings to love God and each 
other ; and the reason why it commands this, is, it is 
love itself. True, that soul is miserable that does not 
love God, and the reasons are, love is the life and 
happiness of the soul, and hatred is its death and 
misery. 

Although I think I have given unanswerable reasons 
why I do not admit such a penalty as I have examined, 
I will, for the sake of the argument, still further allow 
it, and inquire into Christ's suffering it. 

To say that Christ has suffered such a penalty is 



130 



A TREATISE ON ATOXE3IEXT. 



a contradiction in terms, because an endless duration 
has not yet expired. To say that this penalty ever 
will he suffered by Christ, or any other being, is 
another contradiction in words ; for an endless dura- 
tion will never expire. Then to say that such a penalty 
has been, or ever will be suffered, is erroneous. 

If it be argued that Christ was an infinite person, 
and therefore could suffer an endless punishment in a 
few moments, I answer, it is not shunning the contra- 
diction. If the position be moved, and the argument 
is, that he being infinite, could suffer as much, in a few 
moments, as all mankind would to an endless duration, 
I ask are there more infinite beings than one ? All 
answer, no. I ask, again, is it possible for that infinite 
being to suffer ? Even from my opponent, the answer 
will be that the infinite himself did not suffer ; but 
that it was the finite nature which suffered, and was 
raised from the dead by the infinite ; that it was the 
hnman nature which was made a sin-offering ; and that 
the divine nature gave victory to the human by raising 
it into an immortal life. Well, then, the sufferings 
were finite, and could, by no means, answer the re- 
quirements of an infinite penalty. 

The particular difference between this plan and the 
former is in the intentions of the sufferings of Christ. 
The former supposes that Christ suffered in room and 
stead of the sinner, so as to acquit all those from con- 
demnation for whom he died. This argues that the 
intention of the sufferings of Christ was not the sal- 
vation of sinners; but, as I have before observed, the 
glory of the Supreme Being. But that by the suffer- 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



131 



ings of Christ the law is perfectly magnified and made 
honorable; and that it is just for God to acquit as 
many of the sinful race of Adam as is consistent with 
his glory; but does not render it unjust for him to 
punish endlessly as many as is necessary for the same 
grand object. 

Now admitting the penalty of the law to be endless, 
and that Christ suffered it in full, the law cannot now 
require the destruction of the offender ; how then can 
we reasonably argue that it is for the glory of God to 
punish when justice does not require it? If justice do 
require it now of any, it does of all. If it be argued 
that divine justice does not require the endless hap- 
piness or misery of man, I say it is not a law which 
concerns mankind ; and if we say God's will in the 
misery of mankind extends farther than the require- 
ments of his justice, it is setting the Almighty against 
himself. Again, admitting such jDrovisions to be made 
as render it consistent with justice, that all sinners 
should be emancipated from death and misery, does 
eternal love and mercy require less ? 

Supposing five hundred Americans are in slavery at 
Algiers : our consul demands the price of their re- 
demption per man ; he is answered the price of one is 
the price of the whole; and the price of the whole 
is the price of one ; the sum is five hundred dollars* 
This, the Dey says, is not a consideration for the 
slaves, but to show America, or the United States, his 
power and the dignity of his government. Our consul 
obtains the money and pays it. Now, reader, do you 
think he would confine the benefits of this ransom- 



132 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

* 

money to a small part of those unfortunate Americans ; 
and out of five hundred send but fifty home to their 
wives, children, country, and friends; and tell the 
remaining four hundred and fifty that the money was 
his own, and he had a right to extend, or not extend 
the benefits of it, as he pleased ; and that it was his 
pleasure that they should all wear out a miserable life 
in slavery, where they might dream of liberty, but 
never enjoy it? The smallest degree of humanity 
would argue better things. 

We have now examined the foundation of this plan 
of atonement, and it has removed out of our sight ; 
we have sought carefully after the penalty of the law, 
and cannot find it ; we have sought for the satisfaction 
of such penal requirements, admitting they did exist, 
and find them not ; we have admitted, for the sake of 
the query, that such satisfaction did take place, and we 
have sought for the consequences which are argued, 
and find them inconsistent with such premises. 

Taking my leave of this plan of atonement, I shall 
introduce a third one, from which I shall also dissent, 
and give my reasons for so doing. The plan agrees 
with the former in respect to the law, its penalty, and 
the personage of him who makes the atonement ; but 
differs, in respect to the intentions of God, in the 
atonement. As far as the first transgression concerned 
mankind, it is believed that the atonement by Christ is 
fully efficacious; and that no man will, or can be mis- 
erable forever, on account of what is called original 
sin. And that by virtue of the sufferings of Christ, 
Adam and all his posterity were immediately placed 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



133 



in a state of trial, or probation, after the fall, such as 
Adam was in before, but with this difference, viz., 
man now knows good and evil, and is possessed of 
strong appetites to sin ; but has also a portion of the 
divine Spirit, which is given to every man, for his 
profit, to assist him in opposing those appetites, and 
subduing them. 

Those who believe in this plan believe that it was 
in the power of Adam, as a moral agent, to have stood 
in a state of holiness and innocency; and that it is 
now in the power of every man, as a moral agent, to 
obtain the paradise which Adam lost. They do not 
admit that Christ died for our actual transgressions 
after we come to years of discretion ; but of these we 
must repent and beg for mercy, and God will forgive 
on our humble and sincere application. The sum 
of this plan of atonement made salvation possible 
unto all men, but certain unto none. It argues that it 
is the will of God that all men should be saved and 
come unto the knowledge of the truth ; that all should 
repent of their sins, and receive the Redeemer on the 
reasonable terms upon which he is offered to us. 

Those who believe in this plan, believe it possible 
for men to neglect those privileges, slight those mer- 
ciful offers, and turn a deaf ear to all the warnings 
of the Spirit, until the day of their probation is ended, 
whereby all that the Saviour has done is made of no 
effect unto them. And that thousands will be thus 
neglectful, and be miserable as long as God exists ; 
not, however, for the sin which Adam committed, but 
for their own personal transgressions. 



134 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



Before I put the foregoing system of atonement 
under examination, I will take notice of the character 
of the Mediator as believed in by all those who hold 
to the several systems of which I have taken notice, 
as I have not examined that particular in my inquiries 
on the other systems preceding the one under consid- 
eration. They all contend that the Mediator is really 
God ; that the Godhead consists of three distinct per- 
sons, viz., Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; that these 
distinct persons are equal in power and glory, and 
eternally and essentially one. 

The reader will observe my usual mode of reasoning, 
which is to admit as truth what I wish to oj^pose : 
and to oppose it with the consequence which neces- 
sarily follows. For the sake of argument, then, I 
admit the foregoing statement of the character of 
Christ to be just ; and then I contend that if he be 
the Son of God, he is the Son of himself, and is his 
own father ; that he is no more the Son of God than 
God is his son ! To say of two persons, exactly of the 
same age, that one of them is a real son of the other, 
is to confound good sense. If Jesus Christ were really 
God, it must be argued that God really died ! Again, 
if the Godhead consists of three distinct persons, and 
each of those persons be infinite, the whole Godhead 
amounts to the amazing sum of infinity multiplied by 
three ! If it is said that neither of these three persons 
alone is infinite, I say the three together, with the 
addition of a million more such, would not make an 
infinite being. But supposing we get over all those 
absurdities with as much ease as a miscalculation 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



135 



avoids the truth; and suppose that these three distinct 
persons formed the grand council in heaven, on the 
salvation of man, after the first transgression. 

In this council, and on so momentous an occasion, 
the first person addresses the other two, saying, the 
colony which we have just planted on our new-made 
earth has rebelled, and you know the penalty, which 
is endless misery, must be immediately executed on 
the two delinquents, unless a dispensation can be 
devised more favorable to the offenders, and equally 
satisfactory to justice. As the attribute of justice 
spake in the first person, that of mercy speaks in the 
second, and proposes a pardon. Justice opposes, and 
contends that his honor depends on the penalty's 
being put in execution. Mercy again replies, the 
second person in the Godhead shall suffer the penalty 
due to sin, and justice shall grant man a second ]3roba- 
tion, in which he may secure the life, which he, by 
rebellion, lost. That reasonable conditions should be 
proposed, and the third person should make them 
known to man, and give him proper directions how to 
fulfil them ; and if man faithfully attend to these con- 
ditions, he secures his happiness; if not, mercy makes 
no more requests in favor of the offender. To this all 
agree ; and it is registered accordingly. 

It seems, according to this plan, that man utterly 
failed on the first trial, but now has the second oppor- 
tunity. I would ask is there any more certainty of his 
succeeding now than there was before? Is it certain, 
according to this plan, that any of Adam's posterity 
will obtain salvation ? Is it not in the power of all 



136 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



men to neglect those conditions? If it be not, it 
destroys the nature of conditions and of probation ; 
if it be, then it is entirely uncertain whether an indi- 
vidual soul will ever be saved by the Gospel plan. 

I have before shown it erroneous to suppose that 
any finite being could suffer an infinite punishment in 
any period of time ; and I think it is also granted that 
an infinite being cannot suffer. But admitting the 
system of atonement to stand on the ground contended 
for, it was a matter of utter uncertainty whether it 
would, in any instance, prove efficacious as it respected 
the salvation of man. 

A rich parent gives a large portion to his son, 
accompanied with good advice ; the son turns prod- 
igal, spends all, and gets into prison for debt. The 
father still loves the son, pays his debts, lets him out 
of prison, sets him at liberty, and gives him a thousand 
pounds more, which is all he ever can give him, and 
tells him to be more prudent. The prodigal, no 
sooner than he finds himself thus liberated, and in 
possession of a handsome property, goes into the same 
error, which brought him to ruin before, and finally 
meets the same consequences. The father lias no 
more to give, and the son becomes a vagabond. I 
ask, did the parent act the part of wisdom any more 
than the son did ? If he had acted wisely, would he 
not have said to him, Son, I gave you much at the 
first ; I gave you good advice ; I told you that indus- 
try and prudence alone would secure you from want ; 
I told you, though your property were large, unless 
you put your money to interest, or into trade, it must 



A TEE ATI SE ON ATONEMENT. 137 



dwindle; that if you threw away your time in vain 
and~ foolish prodigality, the end would be what you 
have already experienced ? And although I hoped 
better things of you than a total neglect of my admo- 
nitions, yet I feared ; and for your good have reserved 
one thousand pounds of what I intended to give you, 
which, had you been economical, I should by this 
time, have committed to your care. But, as you have 
conducted so foolishly, I must, for your benefit, keep 
the remainder of your portion until you prove yourself 
a convert from prodigality to economy. 

If the Almighty were ignorant at first when he put 
man in possession of privileges which he afterwards 
abused, it astonishes me that he should risk the last 
favor which he had to bestow on principles which he 
had just seen fail. It will undoubtedly be acknowl- 
edged by all that Jehovah knew as perfectly before 
transgression as afterward w T hat man would do, and 
how he would dispose of the advantages which he had 
bestowed on him. Then I ask if God knew how man 
would abuse those privileges, and knew he would be 
eternally miserable in consequence, was it an act of 
kindness in God to grant man such privileges ? I ask 
again was it possible for that to fail which the Almighty 
perfectly knew w r ould take place ? The answer will 
be, no. Then, when we have consolidated the whole 
down to its real self, all the privilege Avhich God gave 
to those whom he knew would render themselves 
objects of his displeasure, was a privilege of incurring 
to themselves endless misery; I say more, he insured 



138 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



it to them himself by putting that into their hands by 
which he knew it would be effected. 

I give my child a loaded pistol, which I tell him 
to discharge at a serpent on his way where I have 
ordered him. I know perfectly well, when I give 
him the pistol, that he will carelessly blow his own 
brains out with its contents, and the serpent will go 
unhurt ; the child's end happens accordingly. I leave 
the reader to judge whether I am the murderer of my 
child ; my conscience will inform me. 

The Mediator suffered the penalty of the law to 
reinstate man in a state of probation; God made 
a revelation to mankind for their instruction ; he in- 
spired the ancient prophets to speak of the things of 
his kingdom ; sent his holy Spirit into the world to 
lead and guide man into all truth ; and all this is done 
from the pure benevolence of God towards a sinful 
world for its everlasting welfare, but all upon uncer- 
tainties ! After all, man lias it in his power to frustrate 
the whole plan of grace, and render it abortive ! Oh, 
ye angels of celestial purity, had ye known this, ye 
would not have sung, on the auspicious birthday 
of Emanuel, " Great joy, which shall be unto all 
people." 

On the other hand, it was possible for every son 
and daughter of Adam to accept of Christ, on the 
very easy terms of Gospel obedience, and thereby to 
have secured the heavenly kingdom. This being 
granted, who knows they will not do it ? Things that 
are possible may be done ; and who can say, for cer- 



A TKEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



139 



tainty, that those things which are possible, will not 
be effected ? If it be an absolute certainty that any 
will finally fail of gaining the prize, it is also an 
absolute certainty that they have no possible oppor- 
tunity for it. If there be an opportunity, and the 
prize be attainable by all, there is at least some room 
for hope ; and were it the real Christian hope, it 
would be like an anchor to the soul, both sure and 
steadfast ; but being founded in the creature, and not 
in God, it is wavering and doubtful. 

On this system, it must be absurd to argue the 
certainty of the endless misery of any of the family 
of man, as the salvation of the whole is possible. 
God, out of love to his creatures, made it possible 
for them all to obtain salvation ; indeed, it is his will 
that all should be saved from their sins ; it is, also, the 
will of Christ, and of the holy Spirit ; it is the will of 
all holy beings in heaven, and of the saints on earth ; 
prayers are daily offered up, from the altar of sacrifice, 
for its accomplishment. And if be not done, the 
whole Godhead will be disappointed ; mourning, in- 
stead of rejoicing, will be the employment of holy 
angels, and the saints will be stung with the keenest 
sensations of grief. 

No one will dare to say he believes God can be dis- 
appointed in any of his purposes; therefore, those who 
believe in the system last examined, must be dissatis- 
fied with it, if their eyes should ever be opened to see 
its consequences. 

Having examined those several systems of atone- ' 



140 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



ment in as concise a method as was convenient, and 
having given my principal reasons for not adopting 
either, I now beg the attention of the reader to my 
second inquiry, namely, the necessity of atonement, 
and where satisfaction must be made. 



CHAPTER II. 



NECESSITY OF ATOXEMEXT, AND AY HE RE SATISFACTION 
MUST BE MADE. 

I have already entered my protest against the 
necessity of atonement, on the principles upon which 
Christians have generally believed it, by showing the 
finite nature of sin, and the error of supposing that 
the law of God required the endless misery of mankind 
as a penal requisition. 

Atonement signifies reconciliation, or satisfaction, 
which is the same. It is a being unreconciled to truth 
and justice which needs reconciliation ; and it is a 
dissatisfied being which needs satisfaction. Therefore 
I raise my inquiry on the question, Is God the unrec- 
onciled or dissatisfied party, or is it man ? 

For our assistance on this question, let us turn our 
attention to God's dealings with Adam on the day of 
transgression, and the conduct of Adam, the trans- 
gressor. After Adam had eaten of the forbidden 
fruit, his eyes opened to the knowledge of good and 
evil, and he found himself naked, and endeavored to 
hide himself from God, which he certainly would not 
have done had he considered his Maker his friend. 
Sin produced two errors in the mind of Adam, which 
have been very incident to mankind ever since ; the 

141 



142 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



first was, he believed God to be his enemy, in conse- 
quence of disobedience ; and, secondly, that he could 
reconcile his Maker, by works of his own. The first 
of these errors we discover from Adam's endeavoring 
to hide from God ; and the second is seen in his 
endeavoring to clothe himself with the works of his 
own hands. It is plain that a material change had 
taken place in Adam ; but can we prove that any 
alteration happened in God ? It is very evident that 
Adam was unreconciled to God ; but it is equally as 
evident that God was not unreconciled to him. God's 
calling Adam, in the cool of the day, and asking him 
where he was ; clothing him with a garment of skins, 
and promising that the seed of the woman should 
bruise the serpent's head, are beautiful representations 
of the parental love and fatherly care of the Creator. 
It ought to be observed that God j>ronounced no curse 
on Adam, but on the serpent. If the Almighty had 
been unreconciled or dissatisfied with his creature 
man, in room of promising him a final victory over the 
serpent, the curse would undoubtedly have fallen on 
the object of his displeasure. 

To say that God loved man any less after trans- 
gression than before, denies his unchangeability ; but 
to say that man was wanting in love to God, places 
him in his real character. As God was not the un- 
reconciled party, no atonement was necessary for his 
reconciliation. Where there is dissatisfaction, it pre- 
supposes an injured party; and can it be hard to 
determine which was injured by sin, the Creator or 
the sinner? If God were unreconciled to man, the 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



143 



atonement was necessary to renew his love to his 
creature; but if man were the unreconciled, the atone- 
ment was necessary to renew his love to his Creator. 
The matter is now stated so plainly that no person 
who can read can mistake. 

I shall now endeavor to prove, from Scripture, that 
the atonement by Christ was the effect and not the 
cause of God's love to man. (See St. John iii. 16.) 
" For God so loved the world that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might 
not perish, but have everlasting life." According to 
this passage, nothing is more plain in Scripture than 
the idea that what Christ did for sinners, was a conse- 
quence of God's love to them. Again, verse 17 : "For 
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the 
world, but that the world through him might be 
saved." This passage says that God did not send his 
Son into the world to condemn the world ; but ac- 
cording to the general idea of the atonement, Christ 
stood as the proxy of man, and the world was tried in 
him, and condemned in him, and in him suffered the 
penalty of the law which man had transgressed. It is 
also said, in the text, that Christ was sent, that the 
world through him might be saved ; which, if true, 
goes to prove, that the Father's object, in Christ's 
coming into the world, was the salvation of the sinner, 
and not for the removing of any dissatisfaction in 
himself towards them. Again, see Rom. v. 8: "But 
God commendeth his love towards us in that while we 
were yet sinners Christ died for us." As the death of 
Christ is here spoken of as a commendation of God's 



144 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



love to us, it ought to be considered as an effect and 
not the cause of that love. Again, 1st epistle of 
John, iv. 9: "In this was manifested the love of God 
towards us, because that God sent his only begotten 
Son into the world that we might live through him." 
If Christ's coming into the world were a manifestation 
of God's love to us, this love must have existed before 
he came, and his coming was an effect produced by it. 
Yerse 10: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, 
but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the pro- 
pitiation for our sins." Verse 19 : " We love him 
because he first loved us." 

From those passages, and many more which might 
be quoted to the same effect, it is easy to learn that 
what the Mediator did for sinners, was the conse- 
quence and not the cause of God's love to us. God 
being infinite in all his glorious attributes, he can by 
no means love at one time and hate the same object at 
another. His divine omniscience comprehended all 
the events of time and eternity; therefore nothing 
could take place to remove his love from an object on 
which it was placed. The Almighty had no occasion 
to dislike Adam, after transgression, any more than he 
had even before he made him ; for, he knew as well 
then, that he would sin, as he did after it was actually 
done. The reason that we mortals love an object, at 
one time, and dislike it another, is the weakness of our 
understandings ; we have not always the same view 
of the same object. We may slight an object of great 
value, its excellence being out of our sight ; and we 
may set our affections on one of no value by errone- 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



145 



ously attaching a value to it which it did not possess. 
But the Infinitely Wise is subject to no mistakes ; he 
comprehends the whole futurition of all moral beings, 
and loves them as his own offspring, with a love con- 
sistent with his immutable existence. Therefore, it is 
evident, that God was not the unreconciled, and, of 
course, did not require an atonement to reconcile him- 
self to his creatures. 

Let us now turn on the other side, and see if man 
be not unreconciled to God ; and if it would not be 
more reasonable to reconcile man to his Maker than to 
reconcile God to the sinner. (See Psalm xiv. 2, 3.) 
" The Lord looked down from heaven upon the chil- 
dren of men, to see if there were any that did under- 
stand and seek God. They are all gone aside ; they 
are altogether become filthy : there is none that doeth 
good, no, not one." 

The apostle Paul, in the third chapter of Romans, 
giving a general description of mankind, introduces it 
with the passage from Psalms, which I have just 
quoted, and continues it by an assemblage of various 
passages (see verse 13, etc.). " Their throat is an open 
sepulchre ; with their tongues they have used deceit ; 
the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is 
full of cursing and bitterness ; their feet are swift to 
shed blood ; destruction and misery are in their ways, 
and the way of peace they have not known ; there is 
no fear of God before their eyes." It is very evident 
that the apostle meant to exclude none from this 
description, as the reader may learn from verse 19: 
"Now we know, that what thing soever the law saith, 



146 A TREATISE ON ATOXE3IENT. 



it saith to them who are under the law ; that every 
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be- 
come guilty before God." Again, chapter v., verse 12 : 
"Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the 
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all 
men, for that all have sinned." That the Scriptures 
abundantly prove that all men are sinners, and in an 
unreconciled state, considered under the law, or in the 
earthly nature, will not be disputed by any. Then 
it is certainly man that needs reconciliation. Men, 
while dictated by a carnal mind, are dissatisfied with 
God ; they accuse him of being a hard master, reaping 
where he has not sown, and gathering where he has 
not strewed. They think on the Almighty, but de- 
sire not the knowledge of his ways. They behold no 
beauty in him ; he appears as a tyrant, regardless of 
] lis creatures. A consciousness of sin, without the 
knowledge of God, represents Deity as angry, and full 
of vengeance; in which sense, many Scriptures are 
written, as I have before observed. How often do we 
find that God has been proi^oked to wrath and jeal- 
ousy, and his fury raised to a flame against the sinner? 
And how often do the Scriptures represent him re- 
penting of his anger, and growing calm ! All these 
Scriptures are written according to the circumstance 
of the creature, and the apprehensions which the 
unreconciled entertain of God. Viewing man in this 
state of unreconciliation to God and holiness, it ap- 
pears evidently necessary that he should receive an 
atonement productive of a renewal of love to his 
Maker. Without atonement, God could never be seen 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



147 



as he is, " altogether lovely, and the chiefest among 
ten thousand ; " nor could he be loved with the whole 
heart, mind, might and strength. How often are men 
grumbling at Providence, that things should be gov- 
erned as they are ? How often are men displeased at 
the Supreme Being himself? What an infinite number 
of hard speeches have sinners spoken against God ? 
All which argue the necessity of atonement, whereby 
those maladies may be healed. 

What an infinite difference there is between the 
All-gracious and Merciful, and his lost and bewildered 
creatures ? He, all glorious, without a spot in the 
whole infinitude of his nature ; all lovely, without 
exception, and loving, without partiality. Who can 
tell the thousandth part of his love to his offspring ? 
And this invariably the same through every dispen- 
sation, without the smallest abatement. But what can 
we say of man ? Lost in the wilderness of sin, wan- 
dering in the by-paths of iniquity, lost to the knowl- 
edge of his heavenly Benefactor, and dissatisfied with 
his God ; he goes on grumbling and complaining, at- 
tributing the worst of characters to the most merciful, 
and entertaining no regard for the fountain of all his 
comforts. God never called for a sacrifice to reconcile 
himself to man ; but loved man so infinitely, that he 
was pleased to bruise his Son for our good, to give 
him to die, in attestation of love to sinners. 

The belief that the great Jehovah was offended 
with his creatures to that degree, that nothing but the 
death of Christ, or the endless misery of mankind, 
could appease his anger, is an idea that has done more 



148 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



injury to the Christian religion than the writings of all 
its opposers, for many centuries. The error has been 
fatal to the life and spirit of the religion of Christ 
in our world ; all those principles which are to be 
dreaded by men, have been believed to exist in God ; 
and professors have been moulded into the image 
of their Deity, and become more cruel than the uncul- 
tivated savage ! A persecuting inquisition is a lively 
representation of the God which professed Christians 
have believed in ever since the apostacy. It is every 
day's practice to represent the Almighty so offended 
with man, that he employs his infinite mind in devising 
unspeakable tortures, as retaliations on those with 
whom he is offended. Those ideas have so obscured 
the whole nature of God from us, that the capacious 
religion of the human mind has been darkened .by the 
almost impenetrable cloud ; even the tender charities 
of nature have been frozen with such tenets, and the 
natural friendship common to human society, has, in a 
thousand instances, been driven from the walks of 
man. But, says the reader, is it likely, that perse- 
cution ever rose from men's believing, that God was an 
enemy to wicked men ? Undoubtedly ; for, had all 
professors of Christianity believed that God had com- 
passion on the ignorant and those who are out of the 
way, how could they have persecuted those whom 
they believed in error ? But, with contrary views, 
those who professed to believe in Christ, who pro- 
fessed to be the real disciples of him who taught 
his disciples to love their enemies, have been the 
fomenters of persecution ; they have persecuted even 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



149 



unto death, those who could not believe all the ab- 
surdities in orthodox creeds. It may be asked, if those 
animosities did not arise from pride, ambition and 
carnal mindedness ? I answer, yes ; and so does the 
God in whom persecuting Christians believe, for they 
form a God altogether like unto themselves ; therefore, 
while they vainly fancy they are in the service of the 
true God, they are following the dictates of pride and 
unlawful ambition, the natural production of a carnal 
mind; and atonement is the only remedy for the 
evil. 

Men are dissatisfied with the Almighty and his 
providence ; they are dissatisfied with, and are ene- 
mies of one another ; whereas our true happiness 
consists in loving God, and our neighbors. Men in 
possession of vile appetites, pursue with greediness, 
their gratification; but still, they retain their wants, 
their souls are allied to heaven and holiness, and can 
never be happy without them. They are conscious of 
sin, and feel condemnation resting on their minds ; 
they look forward to the awful scene of dissolution, 
and their souls start back with horror. Death is the 
king of terrors to the unreconciled ; how awful are 
the thoughts of death to those whose hopes are only 
the feeble productions of their fears and wants, unsup- 
ported with divine evidence ! Oh, how necessary is 
atoning grace, on such an occasion, whereby a divine 
confidence maybe enjoyed; the value thereof cannot 
be estimated by earthly treasures ; all the shining 
dust of India and the riches of the south are poverty 
when compared with the riches of a reconciled mind. 



150 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



Without atonement, God's glorious design, in the 
everlasting welfare of his offspring, man, could never 
be effected; the ordination of an infinitely merciful 
God could never be carried into effect. The Almighty 
must not be deprived of the means of accomplishing 
his gracious designs. We read of his covenant with 
day and night, which cannot be broken ; but it would 
be broken at once, should the causes cease that pro- 
duce their changes. So of the covenant of eternal 
mercy, the testament of eternal life, it must be put in 
force by the death of the testator, and its life and 
immortal glory be brought to light through his resur- 
rection* Let it be understood, that it is man w r ho 
receives the atonement, w r ho stands in need of recon- 
ciliation, who, being dissatisfied, needs satisfaction; 
and not place those imperfections and wants in him 
who is infinite in his fulness; and the doctrine of atone- 
ment may be sought for in the nature of things, and 
found to be rational to the understanding. 

That man receives the atonement, was evidently the 
opinion of St. Paul (see Rom. v. 11). "And not only 
so, but w^e also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom we have now received the atone- 
ment." Were there a single passage in the Scriptures 
that would reach half as far in proving that God 
received the atonement, as the one just quoted does to 
prove that man received it, the matter might be con- 
sidered more disputable than it now is. 

We read, that men are enemies to God, by wicked 
works, which teaches us that enmity is wickedness. 
Should we then dare to say, that God is our enemy? 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



151 



It is wrong for us to be enemies even to those who 
injure us, much more to those who never had it in 
their power to do us any harm. I w T ish to ask, did 
any of God's creatures ever injure him ? Surely not. 
Why then does he turn our enemy ? He commands us 
to love our enemies, that we may be like him ; but 
if he hate his enemies, we must hate ours if we would 
be like him. If he be not our enemy, he needs no 
atonement. But if men are enemies to God, they need 
an atonement to bring them to love him who loves 
them. 

Here the reader will observe that we shun those 
difficulties which have represented the Gospel of 
Christ so inconsistent. We now view the Almighty 
the same, yesterday, to-day and forever ; by no means 
changed in his disposition towards his creatures, but 
always designing and working all things, for their 
good. Here is no need of the self-contradictory notion 
of altering an unalterable being; of satisfying an in- 
finite dissatisfaction ; of reconciling a being who was 
never unreconciled ; of producing love in love itself ; 
of causing an eternal unchangeable friend to be 
friendly, or of offering a sacrifice to the eternal father 
of our spirits, to cause him to love and have mercy on 
his offspring. 

How r much more reasonable it is, to suppose our- 
selves in need of those alterations. But unhappily, 
men have looked at Deity through the medium of a 
carnal mind, and have formed all their evil tempers in 
Jehovah; like the deceived astronomer, who fancied 
he saw a monster in the sun, occasioned by a fly on his 



152 



A TREATISE ON ATO^MEKT. 



glass. The creature being in the medium of sight, 
was supposed to be in the object beheld ; and though 
it was small in itself, and would have appeared so, 
could it have been seen where it was ; yet carrying it 
into the sun, it magnified to an enormous size. So it 
is with our vile and sinful passions, could we behold 
them in ourselves, and view them as they are, they 
would appear in their finite and limited sphere ; but 
the moment we form those passions in Deity, they 
magnify to infinity. Let a council of astronomers be 
called, who are all deceived by the fly; let them con- 
sult on the bigness of the monster, calculate how long 
it has been growing, and how soon it may wholly ab- 
sorb the sun ; let them endeavor to account for its 
cause, and analyze its constitution, inform us of the 
degrees of heat its lungs sustain, and how many de- 
grees hotter it is than iron can be heated in a furnace. 
But here is room for disagreement, which may give 
rise to great disputations. To one, it appears much 
larger than to another; they cannot judge alike, with 
regard to its age, nor how much larger it will grow ; 
some are ready to dispute its being a living creature, 
fancying it may be an opaque body. They are all 
agreed that there is a phenomenon in the sun, but dis- 
pute, and even quarrel, about its peculiarities. What 
would become of all their calculations, the moment 
they should discover the fly? All would be gone, at 
once, and the sun would be relieved of the burden of 
so ponderous a monster. 

How many various calculations have divines made, 
on the fury and wrath which they have discovered in 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



153 



God How much they have preached and written, 
on the awful subject ; and how many ways they have 
invented, to appease such wrath and vengeance ! 
When we come to see the error, and find those prin- 
ciples in ourselves, all those notions vanish at once. 
The fly on the glass might easily have been removed, 
or destroyed ; but had there been a monster in the 
sun, what calculations could mortals have made to 
remove it ; enmity in man may be overcome with 
love ; but, did it exist in God, it must be infinite and 
eternal. 

To conclude, the supposition that Deity receives the 
atonement, or any possible advantage from the Gos- 
pel plan, whereby an alteration is effected in him for 
the better, amounts to the inexplicable absurdity of 
making omniscience more wise, omnipotence more 
powerful, justice more just ; and of giving love the 
power of loving, of making mercy more merciful, truth 
more true, and goodness better ; for these are the 
seven spirits of God, which are in all the earth, and 
they are without the shadow of turning. 

Having shown, as I hope, to the reader's satisfac- 
tion, the necessity of atonement, and where satisfaction 
must be made and reconciliation take place, I shall 
pass to make some inquiries into the personage of the 
Mediator who makes the atonement, and his ability for 
performing the work. 



CHAPTER III. 



CHARACTER OF THE MEDIATOR. 

I have already stated some of the absurdities 
contained in the opinions of most Christians respecting 
the Mediator ; I shall now be a little more particular 
on the subject. 

I shall contend, that the Mediator is a created de- 
pendent being. That he is a created being, is proved 
from Rev. iii. 14, where he is said to be "the beginning 
of the creation of God." His dependency is proved 
by his frequent prayers to the Father. That he ac- 
knowledged a superior, when on earth, is evident, from 
many passages which might be quoted. (See St. John 
v. 19). Christ here says, " The Son can do nothing of 
himself but what he seeth the Father do." He ac- 
knowledged a superior in knowledge (see Matt. xxiv. 
36. " But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no 
not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." This 
passage implies that he did not know of that day him- 
self. St. Mark is still more explicit (see chap. xiii. 82). 
" But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, 
not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, 
but the Father." And further, that he acknowledges 
a superior, even in his risen glory, may be proved from 
his own words to his servant John, on the Isle of 
Patmos (see Rev. iii. 12). "Him that overcometh, 

154: 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



155 



will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he 
shall go no more out ; and I will write upon him the 
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, 
which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of 
heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new 
name." Four times, in the above passage, he acknowl- 
edges a being whom he worships. Again (see Psalm 
xlv. 7), "Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wick- 
edness, because God, thy God hath anointed thee with 
the oil of gladness above thy fellows." The reader 
will observe, I have ventured to put the word because, 
in room of the word therefore, in this quotation ; but 
I have not done it without the authority of a former 
translation. The difference is so essential, I cannot 
dispense with it. Observe, the writer of the Psalm 
addresses one God, and speaks, in his address, of 
another (see verse 6), "Thy throne, O God, is forever 
and ever." This God is dependent on another, ex- 
pressed in the 7th verse, " Because God, thy God hath 
anointed thee," etc. That the names, God, Lord, and 
everlasting Father, are applied to Christ, I shall not 
dispute ; neither shall I dispute the propriety of it ; 
but I do not admit, that they mean the self-existent 
Jehovah when applied to the Mediator. In the quota- 
tion from the Psalm, Christ is said to be anointed 
above his fellows. Fellows are equals. Who are 
Christ's equals ? Perhaps the reader may say they 
are the Father and the Holy Spirit ; but I can hardly 
believe that Christ was anointed with the oil of glad- 
ness above his Father, neither do I believe any one 
will contend for it. I am sensible, that God speaks, by 



156 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



the prophet, of smiting the man who is his fellow ; 
but this fellowship must be different from the one just 
spoken of, and stands only in an official sense. The 
reader will then ask, if I would consider the Mediator 
no more than equal with men ? I answer, yes, were it 
not that our Father and his Father, our God and his 
God, hath anointed him above his fellows. (See Phil, 
ii. 9). "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, 
and given him a name which is above every name." 
For this exaltation and name, he was dependent on his 
Father, and received them from him. This name, 
which is above every name, is the name of God, 
named on Jesus. It will be said, Christ taught the 
people that he and his Father were one. I grant he 
did, and if that prove him to be essentially God, the 
argument must run farther than the objector would 
wish to have it. (See St. John xvii. 11.) Christ prays 
that his disciples may be one, even as he and the 
Father are one. The oneness of the Father and Son, 
is their union and agreement in the great work which 
he has undertaken ; and he prayed that his disciples 
might be as well agreed in the Gospel of salvation, as 
he and his Father were. (See verse 18.) "As thou 
hast sent me into the world, so have I also sent them 
into the world." The Father of all mercies sent his 
Son Jesus into the world, for a certain purpose ; and 
there was a perfect agreement between them in all 
things. He says he came not to do his own will, but 
the will of him who sent him. And again, "My meat 
and my drink is to do the will of him who sent me and 
to finish his work." 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



157 



The President of the United States sends a min- 
ister to negotiate a peace at a foreign court ; this 
minister must conduct according to the authority 
which he derives from him, by whom he is sent ; and 
as far as he does, he is, in his official character, the 
power that sent him. It is evident, Christ received 
the power which he exercises in the work which he 
hath undertaken, and that his kingdom was given to 
him, which goes to prove he did not eternally possess 
them. (See Dan. vii. 14.) "And there was given 
him dominion and glory, and a kingdom." According 
to the prophecy here quoted, the dominion, glory and 
kingdom of Christ were given him. The people 
whom he is to rule are given him. (See Psalm ii. 8.) 
"Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for 
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
for thy possession." (St. Matt, xxviii. 18.) Jesus saith, 
" All power is given unto me in heaven and earth." 
(Chap. xi. 27.) " All things are delivered unto me of 
my Father." These and many more passages are 
found in sacred writ, in support of the dependence of 
the Mediator on the Supreme Eternal, and that he 
derives his power and glory from him. But if Christ 
be essentially God, all those Scriptures seem without 
just signification. 

Christ is said to be the "image of the invisible God, 
and the first-born of every creature." His being the 
first-born of every creature, agrees with his being the 
beginning of the creation of God. It is plain to me, 
from Scripture, that the Mediator is the first human 
soul which was created, as Adam was the first man 



158 



A TEEATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



that was formed ; and that he is, in spirit, the Father 
of every human creature, as much as Adam is in the 
flesh. Therefore, Christ saith, as it is written, "Be- 
hold I and the children that thou hast given me." 

It is written, that man was created in the image 
of God; and, by the light of the Gospel, St. Paul 
ventured to assert that Christ was this image. The 
reader will do well to observe, that the image of 
a person, and the person, are not essentially one, but 
some knowledge of a person may be obtained by his 
true image. Christ being the image of God, it is by 
him we learn the nature of the Father. Christ saith, 
"Xo man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to 
whom the Son revealeth him." Again, " Xo man com- 
eth unto the Father, but by me." St. Paul is par- 
ticular, on this subject, in his 1st Epistle to Timothy 
(see chap. ii. verse 5). "For there is one God, and 
one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
Jesus." It seems, by this testimony, that St. Paul 
was a stranger to the notion of Christ's being essen- 
tially God, as it would be improper to call him a man, 
were that the case. If it be argued, that Christ 
is God and man both, I ask, was it the whole divine 
nature which constituted the divinity of Christ ? If 
this question be answered in the affirmative, I desire 
to know where that divinity is which constitutes the 
other two persons in the Godhead. If the question be 
answered in the negative, and it be argued that the 
divinity which Christ possessed was an emanation 
from Jehovah, it is coming directly to what I contend 
for, viz., that he is a created being. 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 159 

As we have seen, from the prophecy of Daniel, 
that Christ received his kingdom ; so we are taught, 
by St. Paul, that he will deliver up his kingdom 
to the Father, when he has accomplished the grand 
object of his reign. (See 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, 26, 27, 
28.) " Then cometh the end, when he shall have 
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father : 
when he shall have put down all rule, and all author- 
ity, and power. For he must reign, till he hath 
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that 
shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all 
things under his feet. But when he saith, all things 
are put under him, it is manifest that he is excejDted 
which did put all things under him. And when all 
things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son 
also himself be subject unto him that put all things 
under him, that God may be all in all." 

Enough perhaps is written on this part of my query 
to make the matter plain to the reader, although much 
more might be quoted from the Scriptures in support 
of what I have argued. 

I next inquire, has the Mediator power or ability to 
perform the great work of atonement, which is the 
reconciliation of the world to God? Those Scrip- 
tures, with their connections, which I have quoted to 
prove the Mediator's dependence, abundantly prove 
the sufficiency of his power to accomplish the work in 
which he is engaged. If all power in heaven and 
earth be committed to Christ, no doubt can be enter- 
tained of its efficiency. If the whole system of law 
in moral nature be subservient to the designs of the 



160 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



Redeemer, and if he hold in his hands the power of 
moral government, it certainly must be at his option 
whether men shall be reconciled to God or not. 

It may not be amiss to inquire, in this place, whether 
men, in their individual capacity, have the power of 
moral government. If they have, the great work of 
reconciliation might be performed by them, which 
would render the mission of Christ unnecessary. We 
ought not to suppose the Almighty ever purposed 
more than one way to produce the same event ; if he 
have given ability to each individual to effect a com- 
plete reconciliation in himself, it is not consistent to 
believe that this work of reconciliation will be done 
by a Mediator; but if the work of reconciling all 
things to God be consigned to Christ, it is not reason- 
able to believe we have power to perform it ourselves. 
And I think it will not be deemed admissible that we 
have power to hinder this work of reconciliation, as 
that would, in effect, deny the truth of all power 
being given to Christ. We ought to consider that 
Christ was by no means ignorant of man; that he 
needed none to testify of man, as he knew what was 
in man. He knew the moral distance which man had 
wandered from God ; he knew all the expense of recov- 
ering him to holiness and happiness ; and it appears 
rational that he knew whether he possessed ability to 
defray this expense or not ; and if he knew he did not 
possess this ability, he would not have undertaken it. 
We ought not to suppose the Mediator would act as 
unwisely as a man who undertakes to build a large 
house, without first counting the cost, to know if he 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



161 



be able to finish a building so expensive ; or as a king 
would do who should make war on another king, with- 
out first consulting whether he Avere able to contend* 
with the double numbers which his adversary com- 
manded. 

St. Paul, writing to the Colossians, saith of Christ, 
he is the first-born from the dead, that in all things he 
might have the pre-eminence ; for it pleased the Father 
that in him all fullness should dwell; and that the 
Father had made peace, through the blood of his 
cross ; and then informs them for what this peace was 
made. See chap. i. verse 20 : " By him to reconcile 
all things unto himself : by him, I say, whether they 
be things in earth, or things in heaven." In Isa. ix. 6, 
we have a beautiful prophetic testimony of the power 
and kingdom of the Saviour. " For unto us a child is 
born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall 
be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called 
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlast- 
ing Father, the Prince of Peace." And in the be- 
ginning of the next verse, the extent of his dominion 
is spoken of. "And of the increase of his government 
and peace, there shall be no end." There is a great 
number of like passages which in the course of this 
work I shall have occasion to introduce ; but enough 
is already quoted to show for what this ]30wer is given 
to Christ, and that it is sufficient to accomplish the 
end intended. Again, it may be reasonable to argue 
that if the Almighty committed power into the hands 
of Christ, for the performance of anything whatever, 
if there should be found at last a want of power for 



162 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



the work intended, it would prove a want of wisdom 
in the giver of such power. No one who professes to 
believe at all in Christ w T ill dispute his power for the 
performance of all his will. But I wish to have the 
reader satisfied in respect to this power, and in what 
it consists, which, to make as clear as possible, I con- 
nect w T ith my last particular in this general inquiry, 
which is atonement in its nature. 



CHAPTER IV. 



NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 

I ha ye already observed that atonement and recon- 
ciliation are the same. Reconciliation is a renewal of 
love, and love is the law of the spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus, of which St. Paul speaks in Rom. viii. 2, by 
which he was made free from the law of sin. The 
soul, when governed by the law of sin which is in the 
members, of which St. Paul speaks in Rom. vii. 23, is 
in a state of unreconeiliation to the law of the Spirit. 
And it is by the force and power of the law of love in 
Christ that the soul is delivered from the government 
of the law of sin ; the process of this deliverance is 
the work of atonement, or reconciliation. 

The reader will now see with ease that that power 
which causes us to hate sin and love holiness is the 
power of Christ, whereby atonement is made. All the 
law and the prophets rested on this spirit of love, by 
which alone they can be fulfilled. This eternal spirit 
of love is the word, or logos, which was in the begin- 
ning with God, and was God, which was hidden be- 
hind the letter of the law, and in the cabalistic alle- 
gories of the prophets, until it brake forth in the 
official character of Jesus, and rent the veil of the 
temple from top to bottom. Our Saviour, in his offi- 
cial character, is always called by the name or names 

163 



164 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



which is or are applicable to God manifest in the flesh, 
which figuratively means the letter of the law; this 
circumstance will fully account for all the Scriptures 
which my opponent would urge in support of Jesus' 
being essentially God. 

Christ came not to destroy the law and the proph- 
ets, but to fulfil them ; the law is as far fulfilled in the 
soul as it is brought to love God, in his adorable 
image, Jesus ; and a complete fulfilment of the law 
and the prophets will effect love in every soul on 
whom the law, in a moral sense, is binding. 

Let it be asked, by what means are we broitght to 
love God ? Answer : " We love him because he first 
loved us." God's love to us is antecedent to our love 
to him, which refutes the notion of God's receiving 
the atonement; but the idea that the manifestation 
of God's love to us causes us to love him, and brings 
us to a renewal of love (in which spirit we all stood, 
in our spiritual head, Jesus, before formation; and 
from which we in a certain sense elapsed after being 
made subject to vanity), is perfectly consonant to the 
necessity of atonement, it shows us what atonement 
is, and the power which the Mediator must have and 
exercise in order to reconcile all things to God. 

The method by which we are brought to love any 
object whatever is by seeing, or thinking we see, some 
beauty in the object ; and our love is always in pro- 
portion to the apparent good qualities of the object 
seen. 

While our minds are darkened by the veil on the 
heart in reading of Moses, so that the beauties of the 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



165 



ministration of life are hidden from our eyes, and its 
excellent glories are out of our sight, it is impossible 
that we should love Christ or his word. Yet during 
this darkness we must love something; therefore, as 
sin and the vanities of elementary life present the 
greatest beauty to our eyes of any objects which we 
behold, our affections are placed on those corruptible 
things. 

Now I call up the question again, has Jesus power 
to cause us to love holiness, and to hate sin ? An- 
swer: yes, if he have power to reveal the divine 
beauties of the word; to remove the letter and its 
administration, which are death, to take the veil from 
the heart, and to cause us to see himself altogether 
lovely. 

When a sinner views God as an enemy, and grum- 
bles concerning his being hard and austere ; when he 
feels an aversion to him, and wishes to avoid his pres- 
ence, it is certain the Son hath not revealed the Father 
to that soul. The ideas thus entertained of God are 
altogether wrong, and the mind that entertains them 
has no just conceptions of the Almighty. But blessed 
be the express image of the Invisible ; he hath power 
to reveal the true character of the Father, to remove • 
the veil from the heart, and to let the sunbeams of 
divine light gently into the understanding; then God 
appears altogether lovely, and the chiefest among ten 
thousand, while the soul in ecstasy embraces the 
brightness of his glory, crying, "My Lord and my 
God." But the idea of the letter is so fixed in the 
minds of Christian people in general, that the veil of 



166 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



the law is as fully on their minds as it was on. the 
Pharisees of old, which caused them to be blind to 
their Messiah when he came. 

Christians have for a long time believed that the 
temporal death of Christ made an atonement for sin, 
and that the literal blood of the man who was cruci- 
fied has efficacy to cleanse from guilt ; but surely this 
is carnality and carnal-mind edness, if I have any 
knowledge of the apostle's meaning, where he says, 
" To be carnally-minded is death." The letter killeth, 
but the spirit giveth life. The apostles were made 
able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, 
but of the spirit. Christ saith, "Except ye eat my 
flesh, and drink my blood, ye have no life in you." 
Must we understand this in a literal sense ? If we do, 
how shall we understand what he further says of this 
matter ? — " The flesh profiteth nothing ; the words 
which I speak, they are spirit and they are life." 

The apostasy of the Jews happened in consequence 
of the lips of the priests not preserving knowledge ; 
they fell from the spirit of the law, were lost in the 
wilderness of the letter, and therefore were blinded 
indeed. This was a figure of the more dreadful apos- 
tasy of Christians, as were various other circumstances 
recorded in the Old Testament. The Christian apos- 
tasy happened in the same way ; and the church has 
been led into the wilderness of the letter by an hire- 
ling priesthood, who knew nothing of the spirit of the 
law; who have preached, in the name of the Lord, the 
letter, which killeth, in room of the" spirit, which giv- 
eth life." 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 167 

The literal death of the man, Christ Jesus, is figura- 
tive ; and all the life we obtain by it, is, by learning 
what is represented. The literal body of Jesus repre- 
sented the whole letter of the law, with all the allego- 
ries contained in the word of prophecy. The death of 
the body of Jesus represented the death and destruc- 
tion of the letter, when the spirit conies forth, bursting 
the veil thereof, which is represented by the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus from the dead. Agreeably to this, the 
reader will understand all the sacrifices, under the 
law, by which the High Priests entered within the 
veil. 

Being thus enabled to pass from the letter to the 
spirit, we see what death it is, which is the proper 
sacrifice for sin, and what blood it is that cleanses 
from guilt. The blood is said to be the life, it is there- 
fore the spirit or life of the law which does away sin, 
and gives life to the soul. 

I am sensible there are thousands who profess 
Christianity, who are blind enough to object and say, 
" Then the Gospel has nothing to do in the salvation 
of mankind." But suffer me to say the Gospel is 
nothing but the spirit of the law, which is the word, or 
logos, spoken in the law, brought forth from the 
shadows of the first dispensation. To believe in any 
other atonement than the putting off of the old man, 
with his deeds, and the putting on of the new man, 
which after God, is created in righteousness and true 
holiness, is carnal-mindedness, and is death. 

There is nothing in heaven above, nor in the earth 
beneath, that can do away sin, but love ; and we have 



168 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



reason to be eternally thankful that love is stronger 
than death, that many waters cannot quench it, nor 
the floods drown it; that it hath power to remove the 
moral maladies of mankind, and to make us free from 
the law of sin and death, to reconcile us to God, and 
to wash us pure in the blood, or life, of the everlasting 
covenant. Oh, love, thou great physician of souls, 
what a work hast thou undertaken ! All souls are thy 
patients ; prosperous be thy labors, thou bruiser of the 
head of carnal mind. 

In this view of the subject, we may see how the 
divine grace of reconciliation may be communicated 
to those who have never been privileged with the 
volume of divine revelation, and who have never heard 
the name of a Mediator proclaimed, as the only way of 
life and salvation. I have no doubt but thousands, 
whose education has taught them to look on the Chris- 
tian religion as an imposture, may possess a good de- 
gree of this love, which is the spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus ; and though none can feel or experience this 
divine animation, only through the medium of the 
second Adam, I do not conceive that its agency is 
confined particularly to names, sects, denominations, 
people or kingdoms. 

The word, which is nigh us, even in our hearts and 
mouths, is everywhere, operating, in some degree, in 
all hearts. The enmity, which God put between the 
seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, is 
every where felt, and the two children are struggling 
in every breast. When the creature-like nature, or 
the carnal mind, which is enmity against God, leads 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



169 



the whole man captive, it is then that the soul is in 
a state of unreconciliation and death ; but when the 
heavenly child, which, after God, is created in right- 
eousness and true holiness, binds the strong man 
armed, and whispers heavenly invitations to the soul, 
revealing himself in the understanding, the soul imme- 
diately ceases to confer with flesh and blood, beholds 
with inexpressible admiration the heavenly beauties 
of the new nature, is moulded into its likeness, and 
experimentally becomes a child of God ; the flaming 
sword is removed from the place of light ; the way 
to the tree of life is opened, and the soul enters by the 
anchor of hope within the veil, where the cherubims 
are disarmed of the flaming sword, and stand looking 
down on the mercy seat, where God communes with 
his people. Thus, by the spirit of the word, the soul 
is brought to a sweet communion with God, it feels its 
eternal sonship, and rejoices therein, with joy unspeak- 
able and full of glory. . 

Perhaps the Christian reader will here pause, and 
say, my soul can witness that what the author writes 
is true; but then he does not tell of a regular law 
work ; without which the soul can never be brought 
to taste those delicacies in the Gospel provisions. To 
this observation, I reply, I believe there are as egre- 
gious errors crept into the Christian church, in this 
particular, as in anything relative to the Christian 
religion ; and I further believe, that, among those 
who have really tasted that the Lord is gracious, there 
are such differences on the above point, that, in many 
instances, they amount to a disfellowship, and tend 



170 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



greatly to destroy the blessed work begun in the soul. 
But those errors undoubtedly originate in some 
theories which are produced by the wisdom of the 
carnal mind, which is so opposed to the wisdom from 
above, that it is always endeavoring to introduce 
something that may serve to raise animosities, and to 
sow discord among brethren. 

Some, who, by the force of a false education, have 
been led to believe that God is an enemy to the sinner, 
have supposed they were every day exposed to the 
just vengeance of the Almighty, and have fancied that 
they could clearly see the justice of God in their 
eternal banishment from heaven and happiness ; and 
they have been so wrecked on this wheel of torture, 
as to be deprived of sleep and every kind of repose, 
for a tedious time, some longer and some shorter. 
Awful dreams, fraught with the most terrifying imagi- 
nations, have corroded the mind ; and sometimes, a 
burning lake of fire and brimstone has been painted to 
the mind so clearly, that, for several days together, the 
poor frightened soul would feel as if it were on the 
brink of a jn*ecipice, expecting the next moment to be 
the fatal one. In this awful situation, it pleases God 
to manifest himself to the soul ; and in a moment, all 
those frightful imaginations are dispersed, and an 
universal calm takes possession of the whole region of 
the mind. The soul now rejoices, as a captive set at 
liberty, or a pardoned criminal; and there is nothing 
to be heard from him but the praises of his benefactor. 
In this hour of joy, should he hear ten thousand 
singing praises to his Redeemer, he would not wish to 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



171 



stop them, to know whether they had all felt just as 
he had, before he knew , the truth. But, in a short 
time, carnal mind, still alive in the members, begins to 
make its intrusions, and in a very deceitful way. It 
pretends to wish to help the soul along in religion, and 
says, there must be a close examination, it will not 
do to harbor errors, etc. But, in room of setting the 
creature to examine himself, it sets him to examine his 
brother ; his brother happens to be one who, in fact, 
loves Christ and his word, and, to all appearance, 
walks in the path of obedience ; but, he is one whose 
education was not quite so perverse as was his, and 
one who was taught that God is an enemy to sin, not 
to sinners ; that he will chastise for iniquity, but that 
God is not so incensed as some imagine. This brother 
cannot tell all that his interrogator has experienced, and 
is, therefore, rejected, for not telling a good law work. 

It is now possible that the reader is more surprised 
than before, and will say the author does not talk like 
a Christian ; and, feeling some disagreeable emotion, 
he thinks he will read no further. But stop, dear sir ; 
that determination may arise wholly from a want of 
divine charity. If you are, in reality, a Christian, and 
stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you 
free, what you here read will do you no harm. 

I am now about to examine your law work, as you 
call it, and shall argue, that what you call law is only 
a creature of false education. 

Before you found peace, you thought you could see 
the justice of God in your eternal exclusion from 
heaven and happiness. Now I ask, can you find, that 



172 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



God ever gave a law to man which required endless 
misery, in case of disobedience? Sure I am, the 
Scriptures speak of none, neither do the dictates 
of good reason admit of its existence. Perhaps my 
opponent may say, we are not to use our reason in 
matters of religion. I answer, if we are not to under- 
stand the things of God, by Scripture and reason, I 
am at a loss to know how to come at them. I have 
before argued this point particularly, in order to show, 
that such a penalty does not exist in the law of God. 
Did you think an exclusion from heaven and happiness 
would be an exclusion from holiness and righteous- 
ness ? Did you ever see the justice of God in your 
being sinful, unholy and impure? You answer, no. 
Then you never saw the justice of God in your endless 
exclusion from heaven and happiness. 

A false education has riveted the error in the 
minds of thousands that God's law required endless 
misery to be inflicted on the sinner. How often do 
professed Christians address the Almighty, and say, 
"Hadst thou been just to have marked iniquity, we 
should, long since, have been in the grave with the 
dead, and in hell with the damned." This address 
amounts to nothing more or less than a complimental 
accusation against God for injustice! It surprises me 
to think how professed Christians will contend for the 
honor and glory of God in a way that renders his 
character infinitely inglorious and dishonorable. 

Further, you believed (you say) before you were a 
believer in the truth, that you stood in danger, every 
moment, of falling into endless misery, I would ask, 



A TREATISE ON ATOXEMENT. 



173 



if that were true, which you believed, before you 
believed the truth ? I further ask, are you now 
exposed to those dreadful torments ? You will say, 
you hope for the better. And what is it that now 
preserves you from such danger ? You confess it is 
your Saviour. But was it not he who preserved you 
before your conversion ? And are you more safe in 
his hands at one time than at another ? 

Some have gone so far, in their law work, as to 
say, they saw the justice of God so plainly, and it 
appeared so beautiful that they were perfectly willing 
to be endlessly miserable, according to its require- 
ments. Such Christians will not allow that a person 
can be savingly converted without being first willing 
to be endlessly miserable. This, I must confess, is 
a law work as unreconcilable to Scripture and reason 
as it is corrosive to the mind. The amount of it is 
this, I see so much beauty and divine excellency in 
the justice of God that I am perfectly willing to exist, 
to all eternity, in rebellion against it ! I wish to know 
what the soul has to be thankful for in the work 
of salvation? If it be brought to be willing to be 
endlessly miserable, it cannot be thankful for the gift 
of eternal life. Again, if a willingness to be damned 
is a good situation, the soul ought to continue in it ; 
and then hell and endless woe would be as valuable a 
prize for which to run, in the Christian race, as heaven 
and immortality. 

It is generally believed, the Saviour strives, by his 
Spirit, to bring the creature into a state of grace and 
salvation ; and that the devil strives, with all his wily 



174 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



arts, to get the soul into hell and endless torments. 
Now, if these things be so, to which is the soul recon- 
ciled, when it is willing to be endlessly miserable? 
That multitudes have been in great fear of being 
rejected by the Almighty, at last, I have no doubt ; 
for I confess those torments have been mine in no 
small degree. But I contend, it is impossible for any 
one to be willing to be endlessly miserable. Happiness 
always was, and always will be, the grand object of all 
rational beings; and to reverse this object would be 
to reverse man from a reasonable to an unreasonable 
creature. 

The above notion of law work has been the awful 
mean of driving multitudes of blinded mortals into as 
much despair as the mind is capable of. Honest- 
hearted persons, who do not wish to be deceived, or 
deceive others, knowing that they never felt willing 
to be damned, and being told they must be willing in 
order to be saved, have supposed that God had al- 
ready reprobated their fearful souls to endless ruin ! 
Others have been so deceived, as to think they had 
better be willing to be damned than not to be saved ; 
desiring salvation so much, they think they had better 
be willing to be shut out of heaven forever, than to 
miss of salvation, and have, either honestly or hypo- 
critically, said they were willing to be damned ; ex- 
pecting great favors, in consequence of the confession. 
The moment we have a just idea of the spirit of 
the law making an atonement for sin, all those absurd- 
ities and contradictions are removed, and their causes 
taken away. 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



175 



I doubt not but God communicates his grace to 
persons laboring under every kind of deception ; and 
in respect to that grace, no dispute arises among 
believers. Their disputes arise from notions which 
they entertained before they were enlightened, or 
from certain inventions of their own afterwards which 
do not arise from the spirit of truth. 

The divine efficacy of this atoning grace may be 
communicated to the most vile and profligate person 
in the world, and stop him in his full career of wick- 
edness; it can show the sinner, in a moment, the 
deformity of sin, and the beauty of holiness. In other 
instances the morally virtuous are led a long time in 
concern and great trouble about themselves before they 
find him of w T hom Moses and the prophets did write. 

God is not confined to character, time or place, 
to work the work of atonement in the soul ; he does 
all things well, and in the best time and way ; and 
Christians do very wrong to contend about those 
differences which sin and deception caused in them 
before they knew Christ. 

Two persons are discoursing about the agreeable 
flavor of the pine-apple ; one says to the other, it 
tastes very differently from what I expected it would 
before I tasted it; I thought it was a crabbed sour. 
Says the other, I am sure you never tasted of a pine- 
apple ; for, before I tasted one, I thought it was a dis- 
agreeable bitter. Thus they dispute, each in his turn 
arguing that the other had never tasted of the fruit 
because they had different ideas about it before they 
actually had any knowledge of it. 



176 A TEE ATI SE ON ATONEMENT. 



Would you not, kind reader, advise those disputants 
to come to a solution of their question in a different 
way? Surely you would; and if they could agree 
about the real taste of the apple, you would advise 
them to let their former false notions alone. 

Then, Christian reader, go and do likewise in the 
religion of Jesus; and wherever you find a brother 
who has in reality tasted that the Lord is gracious, 
fellowship him as one initiated into the kingdom of 
God. 

Atonement by Christ was never intended to perform 
impossibilities; therefore it was never designed to 
make men agree and live in peace while they are 
destitute of love one to another; but it is calculated 
and designed to inspire the mind with that true love 
w T hich will produce peace in Jesus. As atonement is 
a complete fulfilment of the law of the heavenly man, 
it causes its recipient to love God and his fellow- 
creatures in as great degree as he partakes of its 
nature. Ask one brought out of darkness into the 
marvellous light of the G}spel, how God appears to 
him ; and he will answer, more glorious than he can 
describe. Ask him how he feels towards his fellow- 
men ; and he will say, even of his enemies, he wishes 
them no worse than to enjoy the blessings of divine 
favor. In times of refreshing, how many thousands 
have been heard to speak of the goodness of the Lord, 
and of the infinite fulness of his grace; and with what 
love, affection and fervency have they invited their 
fellow-men to the rich provisions of the Gospel ! 

The earth, in time of drought, ceases to be fruitful ; 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



177 



the streams and springs thereof are dried up ; the 
fields put off their robes of green, and gardens afford 
no fragrant delights ; but when the heavens give the 
wonted blessing in gentle showers, how suddenly is 
the face of nature changed ! <The purling rill mur- 
murs through the mead, pastures and fields teem with 
vegetation, and gardens blush with enamelled beauties. 
So the soul, unwatered with the rain of righteousness, 
and destitute of the waters of eternal life, is like 
a barren fig-tree that yields no wholesome fruit. But 
behold the transition ; the moment atoning grace is 
effective in the mind, the parched ground becomes 
a pool, and the thirsty land streams of water. The. 
soul is like the earth that drinketh in the rain that 
cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for 
them by whom they are dressed ; and, like a garden 
well watered and cultivated, yielding all manner of 
precious fruits. Look on the trees, after autumn has 
plucked their leaves, and winter frozen their trunks 
and limbs. Without faith in spring, their future life 
would be hopeless; but wait for the season of nature's 
appointment, when the increasing majesty of the sun- 
beams gently removes the chains of frost, and warm 
zephyrs are breathed on the surrounding snow, re- 
moving it from the land ; the embryo blossom, nicely 
concealed in frost, now swells with genial heat ; and 
the leaf, so nicely folded in winter's chest, now dis- 
plays its matchless green, and the whole forest rejoices 
in expanded delights. So, if we look on man, in the 
sinful Adam, there is no appearance of heavenly life, 
or divine animation ; the soul is bound in the fetters 



178 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT . 



of sin, frozen with covetousness, and apparently dead 
in the winter of iniquity. But behold the Sun of right- 
eousness arising with healing in his wings, removing 
sin, by the power of grace, and killing moral death, 
with divine life and animation, and causing the soul 
to rejoice in the kingdom of grace and glory. Then it 
may be rightly said, " The winter is past, the rains are 
over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, and 
the time of singing is come." How mysterious are the 
ways of God! What infinite depths of wisdom lie 
concealed from the sight of mortals ! He who varies 
the seasons of the year, and diversifies nature through 
so great a number of changes, without losing the 
smallest particle of matter, can carry his rational 
creatures through all the dispensations designed in 
infinite wisdom, without losing any, and consummate 
the whole glory at last. 

Suffer me, kind reader, in my faithfulness with the 
saints, to excite a close examination. It can be of no 
avail to believe we are partakers of atoning grace 
unless that is really the case. I am of opinion that 
many may be deceived in these things ; some may 
suppose they are experimentally acquainted with them, 
when in reality they have no other evidence of it than 
that some godly minister, as they suppose him to be, 
can fellowship them as Christians ; while others do, in 
reality, feel this divine spirit of grace in its atoning 
operations, but dare not suffer themselves to believe 
it, because^ they have not obtained the approbation 
of some in whom they have been taught to put con- 
fidence. 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



179 



I would, therefore, note some faithful evidences in 
this case which will not deceive us ; and in doing this 
I shall keep the reader close to the spirit of the law, 
which is love to God and man. From these two 
points and their consequences, all the evidence w r hich 
can be obtained must be deduced. The question then 
is, do you love God ? If you answer yes, I ask, why 
do you love him ? and why do you endeavor to serve 
him ? If you answer, because it is your duty, and you 
fear his rod if you do not ; I tell you you are de- 
ceived ; you have no real love to your Maker. Un- 
doubtedly you would say (as many vain professors 
have said), " If you were certain of salvation in the 
world to come, you would do all the mischief here you 
could." If the Gospel of Jesus Christ have any ene- 
mies in this wicked world, you are of that class. 
Your profession of Christianity for forty or fifty years ; 
your attention to Church ordinances, and the mighty 
parade you have made in a round of (what you call) 
religious duties, have only served to paint you like 
a whited sepulchre. You lack the one thing needful, 
which is love. You are ready to oj^pose all professors 
of Christianity who do not subscribe to your articles 
of faith. The weapons of your warfare are a tongue 
of slander, and a spirit of persecution ; and you are 
daily raising false accusations against those who faith- 
fully serve the Lord in spirit and in truth. The 
Pharisees of old made as great professions of religion 
as you do, and were as punctual to those customs 
whereby they made void the law as you are to those 
whereby you make void the Gospel; and like you 



180 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



they were zealous of defending their religion ; and in 
their zeal they murdered the Lord of life and glory ! 
Perhaps you will say the author is hard in his re- 
proofs. I reply, if you, who answer the questions as 
I have stated, are not of the class of which I speak, 
you will not feel the rebuke ; but if you are, you not 
only deserve it, but greatly need it. On the other 
hand, if you can truly say, you love the Lord on 
account of the divine beauties and excellencies you 
behold in him ; that he is in truth, to you, altogether 
lovely, and the chiefest among ten thousand ; that you 
delight in his service, because it is your meat and 
drink to do his will ; that your greatest enjoyment is 
obedience to his commands, which are joyous and not 
grievous, and in keeping of which there is great 
reward ; let your denomination be what it may, let 
you live in what part of the world you will, you are a 
friend to the religion of Jesus, and you have sweet 
communion with him who sits at the right hand 
of God. Are you rich in the things of this world ; 
you view all your possessions at the will, and you 
wish to have them at the disposal of the Master whom 
you serve ; are you adorned with titles of human 
honor, how sweet is it to lay all these things at the 
feet of him whom you esteem infinitely honorable. 
Are you poor in the goods of fortune, you possess the 
true riches; are you a disconsolate widow, behold God 
is your husband, and the father of your fatherless 
children. 

Atoning grace produces all which the Bible means 
by conversion, or being born of the Spirit ; it brings 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



181 



the mind from under the power and constitution of 
the earthly Adam, to live by faith on the Son of God, 
and to be ruled and governed, even in this life, in 
a great measure, by the law of the spirit of life, 
in Christ Jesus. It opens eternal things to our view 
and contemplation; it brings heaven into the sou], 
and clothes the man in his right mind; it inspires the 
soul with divine meekness and boldness at the same 
time. It was this that enabled the apostle of our 
Lord to preach the Gospel, in defiance of the rage 
of their enemies, and gave them immortal consolations 
in their sufferings for the cause of truth. It causes 
the Christian to love all God's rational creatures, and 
to wish their saving knowledge of the truth ; it pro- 
duces good works in their purity, and all the morality 
worth the name is founded on it. Its divine power is 
stronger than any possible opposition, and the gates of 
hell cannot prevail against it ; it opens a door of ever- 
lasting hope, and conducts the soul, by the way of the 
cross, to immortality and eternal life. This dispensa- 
tion of atonement is manifested through Christ, for 
the reconciliation of all things to God, in his glorious 
kingdom of holiness and happiness. 

In this general view of atonement, I come to my 
last inquiry proposed in this treatise, namely, the 
consequences of atonement to mankind. 



Part III. 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF ATONEMENT TO MANKIND. 



CHAPTER I. 

THEIR TJXIVERSALITY. 

In this last inquiry, I must be a little more lengthy 
than in either of the former, but I hope not to be too 
tedious. What I shall contend for, as the conse- 
quences of atonement, is the universal holiness and hap- 
piness of mankind, in the final issue of the Redeemer's 
process. In doing this I will — 

First. Make a fair statement of the doctrine of 
universal salvation, as I understand it. 

Secondly. Take notice of the most frequent objec- 
tions stated against the doctrine by various denomi- 
nations. And 

Lastly. Give my reasons for believing in my general 
proposition from Scripture and reason. 

I will make the statement of the doctrine which I 
believe, as short as possible. 

1st. God created man in Christ the Mediator; in 
which creation, the law of the spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus, of which St. Paul speaks to the Romans, was 
the whole governing principle of his nature. 
182 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



183 



2d. After the creation of man in this divine consti- 
tution, it pleased the Almighty to reduce him to a 
state of formation in flesh and blood ; in which consti- 
tution, the law of sin, which St. Paul said he found in 
his members, became the governing principle of the 
whole man. 

3d. God has revealed his divine and glorious pur- 
pose of bringing man back from his formed state, and 
from under the law of the earthly Adam, to his origi- 
nal created state, forever to be under the governing 
power of the law of the heavenly constitution. 

The objections, of which notice will be taken, stand 
opposed to my third proposition. The first that I 
notice is found in a proposition frequently stated by 
modern divines, thus, " God, in the great and infinite 
plan of moral government, consults the greatest pos- 
sible good to the whole system ; and in order for the 
greatest possible happiness to be produced, it was 
necessary that some of God's rational creatures should 
be eternally miserable. Agreeable to which all men 
cannot be saved." This is the only ground on which 
an objection can be stated against universal holiness 
and happiness, while we admit the existence of an 
Infinite Supreme. 

I cannot go into an examination of any authorities 
on which the above statement is supposed to stand ; 
for I know of none. All I can do is to examine the 
statement itself. It is argued, agreeably to this prop- 
osition, that the infinite and inconceivable miseries of 
the wicked, in the world to come, will enhance the 
happiness of the glorified in heaven. 



184 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



Against these statements I argue, if, in order for the 
greatest possible happiness to exist, the greatest ]30ssi- 
ble misery must also exist, I wish to reverse the sub- 
ject. Then the proposition would stand thus, in order 
for the greatest possible evil to exist the greatest pos- 
sible good must exist. Then, if God, in his universal 
plan, has produced as much good as was possible, 
he has also produced as much evil as possible, which 
renders the statement, that he consulted the greatest 
possible evil, as just, as that he consulted the greatest 
possible good. Of course, there is no more propriety 
in calling him good, than there is in calling him 
bad! 

If it be said I carry this evil, or misery, too far, 
even beyond my opponent's meaning, I will endeavor 
to show him, according to his own statement, that 
I do not. He says, every degree of misery in hell 
will produce many degrees of happiness in heaven ; 
if so, if the wretched be not made as miserable as 
possible, the blessed cannot be made as happy as 
possible; if they are not made as happy as possible, 
they must experience some want ; and, of course, 
some misery themselves. On the other hand, if the 
wretched be not as miserable as possible, they must 
have in possession some remaining convenience. Then, 
neither the greatest possible happiness, nor the great- 
est possible misery is produced. 

Almighty God, being put to the necessity of making 
some of his rational offspring eternally miserable in 
order to make the rest forever happy, may be rep- 
resented by a parent who has ten children, but only 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



185 



provisions enough to preserve the lives of five until 
he could get more. In this awful dilemma he sits 
down to consult the greatest possible good ; says to 
himself, if I divide my provisions equally among my 
children, all must surely starve to death ; but by 
neglecting five, I can save the lives of the other five, 
which lie finally concludes to do. But I ask the 
rational, I petition the reasonable, I request the im- 
partial, to guess the feelings of a father on such an 
occasion ! Before *him are ten children, all in the 
image of himself ; he sees his own eyes roll in their 
heads, hears his own voice on their tongues, while his 
own blood frolics through their veins ; how could he 
make the division? how could he decide on one for 
a victim ? Would he not rather give his own flesh to 
be their meat, and his own blood to be their drink, 
and fervently pray for plenty? But is the Almighty 
poor? Has he not enough and to spare ? When the 
prodigal came home, did the father turn away his 
brother so that he might have a plenty for him ? Is 
there not fulness enough in God to satisfy the wants 
of all his creatures? Why the necessity, then, of 
making some miserable eternally ? My opponent will 
say, the blessed are happified in consequence of the 
misery of the wretched. But what reason can be 
given for such an idea ? How do we look on a person 
in this world who manifests joy and happiness in the 
misery of one of his fellow-creatures ? Do we say he 
manifests a godlike disposition ? Surely no. From 
whence came charity; from heaven, or hell? If souls 
in heaven possess it, they cannot be happy in conse- 



186 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



quence of the misery of any rational being; and should 
the divine principle be found in hell, it would banish 
misery, and annihilate the place! 

Again, if a soul in heaven derives happiness from 
seeing, say, one-half, or two-thirds, of the human race in 
misery, would he not yet enjoy more, providing the 
whole, except himself, were in the same torment? If 
it be granted that he would, then, in order for a soid to 
be made as happy as possible, the whole human race, 
except that one, must be endlessly as miserable as 
possible ! If it be argued that it is not the number or 
multitudes of individuals who are made miserable 
that thus constitutes or enhances the happiness of the 
blessed, but that it is the nature, justice and intense- 
ness of this misery which is necessary for the above 
purpose, it makes it very plain that the eternal misery 
of one would produce as much good as of ten thousand, 
or more. 

We have now got so far, even on our opponent's 
ground, as to see that there is no need of more than 
one soul's being endlessly miserable ; and it still fur- 
ther appears to me that the misery of one may be 
dispensed with without departing from what my op- 
ponent has acknowledged ; and that by letting each 
individual of the human race for a moment, or any 
limited time, experience the nature of the misery con- 
tended for ; and then giving them a memory to retain 
it fresh in mind forever ; this must of necessity pro- 
duce the effect as well, and without the expense of a 
single soul. I do not think it would absolutely require 
omniscient wisdom to concert a better plan than the 
one I am opposing. 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT, 



187 



Suppose we alter the circumstance of the father 
and his ten children : suppose the father has pro- 
visions enough for the whole, and his object in the 
bestowing of it upon them is to cause the greatest 
possible hapj>iness among his children. Which way 
would good sense and parental affection choose, either 
to feed five to the full, and starve the rest to death, 
that their dying groans might give the others a better 
appetite and their food a good relish, or to let them 
all be hungry enough to relish their food well, and all 
alike partake of it ? 

I will take notice of a certain passage of Scripture 
in this place, which some have endeavored to accom- 
modate to the argument which I am disputing. (See 
Rev. xiv. 10, 11.) "The same shall drink of the wine 
of the wrath of God, which is poured out without 
mixture into the cup of his indignation ; and he shall 
be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence 
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb : 
and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever 
and ever : and they have no rest day nor night who 
worship the beast and his image, and whosoever re- 
ceiveth the mark of his name." It is not because 
I am afraid of wounding this beast, or of affronting its 
rider, that I do not enter into a particular explanation 
of the passage recited ; but because it deserves the 
labor of more time than I have now to spare. How- 
ever, the idea of my opponent is easily refuted ; and 
this is as much as the reader ought to expect in this 
work. The common idea is, that the punishment 
here spoken of is altogether in eternity, and not in 



188 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



this world of mortality ; that it being in the presence 
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, it 
indicates that it affords pleasure in those heavenly 
mansions where they dwell. 

First, I request the reader to observe that the verbs, 
ascendeth, have, worship, and receiveth, are all in the 
same tense, which at least favors the idea that the sul- *' 
phurous smoke of this torment ascendeth up at the 
same time that the tormented worship the beast. If 
the apocalyptical beast be worshipped to an endless 
eternity, it follows that his worshippers will be tor- 
mented as long. Until it is proved that some will 
worship this beast in another world, or endlessly, it 
cannot be proved from this passage that any will be 
tormented in another world, or endlessly. It is said 
in the text that the worshippers of the beast have 
no rest day nor night. If it can be proved that 
day and night are reckoned in another world, or in 
eternity, my opponent has better ground for his argu- 
ment than I think he has. 

This beast, undoubtedly, is Antichrist ; the wor- 
shippers of the beast are apostatized Christians of all 
denominations since the Christian apostacy. They 
have always been in wars and commotions, and have 
had no rest ; and as for their being tormented, in all 
their public worship, with fire and brimstone, no 
argument is necessary to make it obvious. 

Another objection, which has often been stated 
against the salvation of all men, stands in a pretended 
axiom, namely, "A God all mercy is a God unjust." 
The force of this pretended axiom, as used against the 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



189 



salvation of all men, is, if God should do justly by all 
men, He would be an unmerciful being ; or, if He 
should show mercy to all men, He would be an unjust 
being. There is nothing self-evident in this axiom 
that I can see but its own want of propriety ; it repre- 
sents justice and mercy at an eternal variance. Ac- 
cording to this axiom, and the argument deducible 
from it, justice may be compared to a monstrous wolf 
in pursuit of a number of lambs, and mercy to a shep- 
herd who is obliged to give up a large number of 
them, to gorge his omnivorous appetite, while he 
makes off with the rest. 

I have already sufficiently refuted the idea of justice 
requiring the endless misery of the creature ; and, 
until that notion can be supported by Scripture or 
reason, an objection against the salvation of all men 
cannot be stated, from the nature of justice. I have 
also showed that in order for justice to require the 
endless misery of any moral being, it must of neces- 
sity require the endless continuance of sin, than which 
nothing is more absurd. Again, it is objected, as 
many are going out of this world daily in a state 
of sinfulness and unreconciliation to God, and there 
being no alteration in the soul for the better after it 
leaves this natural life, millions must be miserable as 
long as Gcd exists. The force of this objection stands 
on the supposition that there is no alteration for the 
better after death. Could this supposition be proved, 
I grant it would substantiate a formidable and (I 
think) an unanswerable objection against the final holi- 
ness and happiness of all men. I have often heard the 



190 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



objection made, but never heard an evidence brought 
from Scripture or reason to support the declaration. 
Divines being sensible of the want of Scripture to 
support this (their) supposition, have, very liberally, 
been at the expense of making some ; and the notable 
passage which they have coined and brought into 
very frequent use is not to be found in the Scriptures 
of the Old or New Testament ; but is frequently to be 
heard from the pulpit, read in many of their writings, 
and recited by many of their adherents. It is as fol- 
lows: "As the tree falls, so it lies; as death leaves us, 
so judgment will find us." I shall not contend about a 
different explanation of this addition to the Scriptures 
from the usual one ; but will only say, if the thing 
which my opponents would prove by it be true, namely, 
that souls cannot be altered for the better after death, 
all our Christian people must remain eternally as 
unsanctified as they are in this world of infirmities. 

Again, many contend that God deals with mankind 
as moral agents ; that he sets life and death before us, 
and leaves us to make our own choice, and to fare 
accordingly. That, as our eternal state depends on 
what use we make of our agency, millions will prove re- 
bellious, and, therefore, miss of salvation. But I query, 
if one soul can obtain salvation on the principle 
of moral agency, why another cannot as well ? If it 
be granted he can, I ask, again, why all men cannot as 
well as any ? If it be still granted, I say, as I have 
before said, that which can be done may be done ; 
therefore the objection fails. But the objector will 
say it renders universal salvation uncertain ; I answer, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



191 



no more than it renders universal damnation certain. 
All may be lost forever as well as one ; therefore my 
opponent's hopes are subject to the same shipwreck to 
which he would expose mine. I would further inquire, 
if God deals with man upon a system of moral agency, 
is it God's revealed will that all men should be saved 
agreeably to their agency ? If it be granted that it is, 
I further inquire, whether God's will in the moral 
agency of man will be eternally frustrated ? If not, 
no objection stands against Universalism ; but the 
proposition on which my opponent endeavors to sub- 
stantiate an objection favors the doctrine as far as it 
goes. 

In my observations on the liberty of will, I have 
given some of my ideas concerning agency as it is 
generally understood ; but moral agency may be very 
differently understood by different persons. If by 
moral agency be meant an ability to love an object or 
objects which appear agreeable, I have no objections 
to make ; but if it mean an ability to hate that which 
appears agreeable and to love that which appears dis- 
agreeable, I contend no such agency exists in any 
being within the compass of our knowledge. It is 
certainly reasonable to suppose that all the agency 
possessed by man was given him by his Maker ; and 
that when God gave him this agency it was for a 
certain purpose, which purpose must finally be every 
way answered, providing God be infinitely wise. I 
cannot but think it incorrect to suppose that God ever 
gave any creature agency to perform what he never 
intended should be done. Then, if any soul be made 



192 



A TREATISE OX ATOXEMEXT. 



endlessly miserable by its agency, it follows that God 
gave that soul this agency for that unhappy purpose ; 
and if any be saved by their agency, God gave them 
their agency for that blessed end. If any wish to 
make a different use of agency, let them state fairly 
that God gave man an agency intending man's eternal 
salvation thereby; but man makes a different use 
of his agency from w T hat God intended, whereby the 
gracious designs of Deity are forever lost ! 

If my opponent will not fix his agency on some of 
the above noted principles as it respects the issue 
of the argument, I am sure he can do nothing with it 
to any effect. If agency be stated on the principle of 
God's intending the creature's salvation by it, and it 
be granted that his will in the affair will be done, it is 
an acknowledgment of the doctrine for which I con- 
tend. But if it be stated that although God gave 
man his agency, for the glorious purpose of his endless 
felicity, yet his purpose may fail. Could this statement 
be proved true, it would not only refute universal sal- 
vation, but everything else as being a divine system on 
w r hich we may, with any confidence, depend. 



CHAPTER II. 



OBJECTIONS. 

One of the objections on which the enemies of 
universal holiness and happiness put much dependence, 
and which they frequently urge against the doctrine, 
is stated from the force of unlimited words, as they 
find a few of them in Scripture applied to the misery 
of the wicked. The force of this objection I remove 
by proving that unlimited words are applied to things 
and events which are not strictly eternal or endless ; 
and surely the candid reader will acknowledge this 
way of reasoning is just, and by no means evasive. 
I shall not labor this point largely, for it has been 
done faithfully by an able author whose works are 
among us. I will only introduce a few Scriptures, 
and make some observations on them for the benefit 
of those of my readers who have not seen the masterly 
work referred to. (See Gen. xvii. 7, 8.) "And I will 
establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy 
seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting 
covenant ; to be a God unto thee and thy seed after 
thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed 
after thee, the land wiierein thou art a stranger, all 
the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession ; and 
I will be their God." (Verse 13.) "He that is born 
in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, 

193 



194 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



must needs be circumcised ; and my covenant shall be 
in your flesh for an everlasting covenant." In the 
above passage the land of Canaan is called an ever- 
lasting possession. Will my opponent contend the 
word everlasting here means an endless duration ? 
Will he contend that Abraham now possesses the land 
wherein he was then a stranger, or that his seed do, 
or will, possess that land as long as God exists? 
If not, then the objection is given up. 

Again, the covenant of circumcision of the flesh is 
called an everlasting covenant. Will the objector con- 
tend that the covenant of circumcision in the flesh is 
now in force, and that it will remain in force as long 
as God exists? It is evident, from Scripture, that 
these ordinances and this covenant are removed, and 
succeeded by a covenant which is called a better one. 
(See Heb. viii. 6, 7, 8.) " But now hath he obtained 
a more excellent ministry, but how much also he is 
the Mediator of a better covenant which was estab- 
lished upon better promises. For if that first cove- 
nant had been faultless, then should no place have 
been sought for the second. For finding; fault with 
them, he saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 
when I will make a new covenant with the house of 
Israel, and with the house of Judah." (Chap. ix. 10.) 
The apostle argues that the ordinances of the first 
covenant were imposed on the people until the time 
of reformation. (Gen. xlviii. 3, 4.) "And Jacob said 
unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz 
in the land of Canaan, and blessed me ; and said unto 
me, behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



195 



and I will make thee a multitude of people ; and will 
give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting 
possession." And he further said, in the blessing of 
Joseph, " The blessings of thy father have prevailed 
above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost 
bounds of the everlasting hills." (Exod.xl. 15.) "And 
thou shalt anoint them (Aaron's sons) as thou anointed 
their father, that they may minister unto me in the 
priest's office; for their anointing shall surely be an 
everlasting priesthood throughout their generations." 
Lev. xvi. 34.) "And this shall be an everlasting 
statute unto you, to make an atonement for the chil- 
dren of Israel, for all their sins once a year ; and he 
did as the Lord commanded Moses." The reader may 
learn the abolishment of the priesthood, that is here 
called an everlasting priesthood, from Heb. vii. 11, 12. 
"If, therefore, perfection were by the Levitical priest- 
hood (for under it the people received the law), what 
further need was there that another priest should rise 
after the order of Melchisedec and not be called after 
the order of Aaron ? For the priesthood being 
changed, there is made of necessity a change also of 
the law." (Jonah ii. 6.) " I went down to the bottom 
of the mountain ; the earth with her bars was about 
me forever ; yet hast thou brought up my life from 
corruption, O Lord my God." Many more passages 
might be quoted to clear this point of argument, if 
more were necessary; but depending some, as I ought 
to, on the candor of my reader, I forbear to be 
tedious. 

In the next place, I will take notice of a number 



196 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



of Scriptures in connection, all of which have been 
erroneously applied to the future and endless misery 
of mankind. (See Mai. iv. 1.) "For behold, the 
day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the 
proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, 
and the day that cometh shall burn them up, said the 
Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor 
branch." (Matt. iii. 10.) " And now also the axe is 
laid unto the root of the trees : therefore, every tree 
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and 
cast into the fire." (Verse 12.) " Whose fan is in 
his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and 
gather his wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will 
burn with unquenchable fire." (Chap. v. 29, 30.) 
" And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and 
cast it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that one 
of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole 
body should be cast into hell." (Chap. vii. 13, 14.) 
" Enter in at the straight gate : for wide is the gate, 
and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and 
many there be that go in thereat : because straight is 
the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto 
life, and few there be that find it." (Chap. xiii. 30.) 
" Let both grow together until the time of harvest ; 
and in the time of harvest I will say unto the reapers, 
gather ye together, first the tares, and bind them in 
bundles to burn them ; but gather the wheat into 
my barn." The whole of Chap, xxv., which is too 
lengthy to be written at large. The last paragraph of 
Luke xvi. (Thess. i. 7, 8, 9.) " And to you who are 
troubled, rest with us ; when the Lord Jesus shall be 



V 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



197 



revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in 
flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not 
God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting de- 
struction from the presence of the Lord and from the 
glory of his power." There are a number more 
Scriptures of the like nature of the above quoted, to 
which I should be glad to attend, w r ere it not for 
swelling this work too large. I will, however, after 
I have answered these in their order, take into con- 
sideration some others of a different kind. Those 
which I have quoted, mostly respect that dispensation 
which is represented by fire, which to illustrate more 
easily to the reader's understanding, I will first pro- 
duce a passage from St. Paul's first Epistle to the 
Corinthians, iii. 15, which I will call my key text. 
" If any man's works shall be burnt, he shall suffer 
loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." 
By my key, I learn that the fire which causes the 
wicked to suffer, has the power of salvation even for 
the sufferers. So in all the passages recited, w T here 
fire is mentioned, it is evident the same fire is in- 
tended. " For behold, the day cometh that shall burn 
as an oven." In this same chapter, this day is called 
the great and dreadful day of the Lord, who promised 
to send Elijah the prophet before that day come, 
whose business should be to turn the hearts of the 
fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children 
to their fathers, lest the Lord should smite the earth 
with a curse. 

I inquire, first, concerning the coming of this 



198 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



prophet, in order to fix on a time for the commence- 
ment of this day of the Lord. That Elijah and 
Elias are the same, in Scripture, no doubt will be 
entertained. Then turn to Matt. xvii. 12, 13. "But 
I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they 
knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever 
they listed ; likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer 
of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake 
unto them of John the Baptist." By this Scripture it 
appears that the promise of the coming of Elijah, the 
prophet,, was fulfilled by the, coming of John the Bap- 
tist, who came in the spirit and j^wer of Elias; 
which shows very clearly that the Gospel day, or 
coming of Messiah, was the day that should burn as 
an oven. The burning of an oven is used here as a 
metaphor to represent the power of Gospel light and 
love in the moral system. In the chapter preceding 
our text, Christ is prophesied of, as follows. (See 
verse 1, and so on.) Observe the forerunner is first 
spoken of, and then Christ himself. " Behold I will 
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way 
before me." Thus far John the Baptist is intended. 
"And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to 
his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom 
ye delight in, behold he shall come, saith the Lord of 
hosts. But who may abide the" day of his coming, 
and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is 
like a refiner's fire, and like a fuller's soap. And he 
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall 
purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and 
silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



199 



in righteousness." The purpose intended by the fire 
of this day of the Lord is made very evident by the 
above quotation, which, with my key, will much assist 
us in understanding the metaphor before us. First, 
how does an oven burn ? Answer, so as to consume 
the combustibles which are in it, by which the oven is 
prepared for the master's use, being perfectly cleansed, 
and of a right temperature to receive whatever the 
baker pleases to put into it. By this fire the sons of 
Levi were' to be cleansed, so as to offer an offering 
in righteousness ; and by this fire, the hay, wood and 
stubble, are burned; but the possessor of them, though 
lie suffer loss, yet is saved by it. Here, we see, in 
room of the sinner's endless misery, his purification as 
a prerequisition for endless bliss and happiness. My 
opponent may urge that the text says, the proud, and 
all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that 
cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, 
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch ; 
which hath respect to the sinner, and not to his sins. 
•Be it so. But will the passage afford my opponent's 
inference, which is the endless duration of the sinner's 
misery ? By no means ; for that which is burnt up, 
root and branch, does no longer abide. To say of a 
tree that it was burnt up root and branch, would for- 
bid the idea of its enduring the fire always. The 
total annihilation of the wicked is a thousand times 
more literally proved than his endless misery ; and 
I may add, with propriety, that the very words which 
my opponent urges in support of endless misery, are 
sufficient proof against it. I argue that this particular 



200 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



part of the text alludes to the total destruction of the 
sinner in respect to the nature of the earthly Adam ; 
of which neither root nor branch will be left. This 
I conceive to be in reality what the text means; 
and I am perfectly willing to rest the correctness of 
my ideas on the experience of any vital lover of the 
religion of Christ. Call to mind, what a crackling of 
thorns, what a breaking up of the nether parts of thy 
soul, what a consumption seized every part, and what 
a sinking to nothing, when the word of God, the spirit 
of the law, which is sharper than any two-edged 
sword, pierced to the dividing of thy soul and spirit 
joints and marrow, and plainly discerned the thoughts 
and intents of thy heart, until thou found thyself on 
the rock of ages. By this method of understanding 
the Scriptures, we understand them experimentally. 

Further, observe what is said to those who fear the 
Lord, in the chapter where our text lies: "But unto 
you who fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness 
arise, with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth 
and grow up as calves of the stall, and ye shall tread 
down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the 
soles of your feet." Who are they who truly fear 
the name of the Lord ? Those and those only who 
have passed the fire as above described; they receive 
healing from the Sun of righteousness, even from his 
wings, which are the types and allegories of the law, 
by which the word, or logos, is brought to our under- 
standings. Such grow in grace, and in the knowledge 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. But who are the wicked 
which they are to tread down as ashes under their 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 201 



feet? Their neighbors? Yes, according to the con- 
duct of apostatized Christians who despise and perse- 
cute all who differ from their superstitions. But, 
according to truth, the wicked are their bodily, or 
creaturely natures and appetites. However hard it 
may seem to the reader, I say the real Christian lives 
above himself, and views his carnal appetites con- 
temptible as ashes. 

We pass to Matt. iii. 10. "And now also the axe is 
laid unto the root of the trees ; therefore, every tree 
which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down 
and cast into the fire." In order to see that the fire 
into which the trees are cast, when hewn down, is the 
same as that of which we have already spoken, observe 
verse 11. "I, indeed, baptize you with water unto 
repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier 
than I, whose shoes I am not able to bear, he shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." By 
this we understand that the fire in our text is that 
which accompanies the operation of the Holy Ghost, 
and is that fire with which Christ baptizes. (Verse 
12.) " Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thor- 
oughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into his 
garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquench- 
able fire." Fire is mentioned in each of the three 
verses quoted, and its use is plainly shown, which is 
to burn the trees which bring not forth good fruit, to 
accompany the Holy Ghost in baptism, and to con- 
sume the chaff when the wheat is gathered into the 
garner. 

Now, let us look for the doctrine of endless misery, 



202 



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and see if it can be proved by the text under consid- 
eration. I will agree that the trees which do not 
bring forth good fruit are wicked men; and my 
opposers must acknowledge, that they, and all the rest 
of mankind, are of that description, as it is written, 
" There is none that doeth good, no, not one." And 
who will pretend the Pharisees, to whom John spake, 
whom lie calls a generation of vipers, were not 
wicked? And if casting the trees into the fire mean 
casting sinners into remediless woe, I ask if the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost and of fire mean the same 
thing ? None will allow it ; but all believe it to be 
salutary to all those who experience it. The reader 
will then observe John told this generation of vipers 
that he who should come after him should baptize 
them with the Holy Ghost and \viih fire. How could 
those Pharisees be made endlessly miserable, and yet 
be saved by the power of the Holy Ghost ? If we 
examine the burning of the chaff, we shall find it 
to be by the same fire, and the consequences the 
same. 

The reader may desire some more explanation of 
these passages; then learn, first, the axe which is laid 
at the root of the trees, is the executive power of the 
law; the root, that Adamic nature, in which we all 
stand naturally ; the trees, every individual of man- 
kind ; being hewn down, is being slain by the law ; 
being cast into the fire, is being refined by the spirit 
of the law, whereby the soul is prepared for the king- 
dom of holiness and happiness. All this must be done 
for the best of characters in the earthly nature. In 



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203 



the similitude of the wheat and chaff, we have a very 
natural representation of man in two states; for as 
man, in his natural state, is encompassed with the 
imperfections of the earthly Adam, so he is repre- 
sented by wheat, which, when growing in the field, is 
encompassed with chaff, which continues to confine it, 
until it comes to maturity, and a process is introduced 
which makes the separation. Here let me make some 
further use of the similitude than just to answer my 
point of argument. Wheat, though concealed from 
vulgar eyes by chaff, yet, by the experienced, in the 
raising of grain, is perfectly well known ; and we do 
not condemn w^heat and throw it away because nature 
has so ordered that it is encompassed w r ith chaff while 
growing in the field. So man is not to be valued the 
less by the wisdom of God on account of the imper- 
fections of his earthly nature. And we may, with 
great propriety argue, that as chaff is necessary for 
the growth of wheat until it comes to maturity, so 
are all the imperfections of man, viewed by divine 
wdsdom, until the creature comes to that experience, 
which w^as intended in a state of imperfection. As 
the process which separates wheat from chaff would 
disappoint the expectation of the husbandman were it 
applied prematurely; so the Gospel, by which men are 
prepared for the kingdom of God, must do its office in 
due time, or in the fulness of time. The state in 
which man is, prior to the knowledge of God and his 
heirship in him, is represented by wheat connected with 
chaff; and the state unto which he is finally brought, 
by divine mercy, is rej^resented by a garner which 



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receives the wheat when it is separated from chaff. 
The unquenchable fire wdiich consumes the chaff, is a 
significant figure of the power of Gospel grace to 
remove all excrescences from our hearts and con- 
sciences, and to prepare us for the kingdom of immor- 
tal purity. What but the nature of God can be justly 
called unquenchable fire ? If any other principle in 
the universe can justly bear that appellation, it must 
be equal, if not superior, to God himself. An apostle 
says, "Our God is a consuming fire ; " and I must con- 
sider it erroneous to believe that this fire is quench- 
able, or that there are more unquenchable fires than one. 
This fire of eternal truth will undoubtedly destroy 
everything which is in opposition to its nature ; but 
has no power to destroy its own nature or its offspring. 
Now, if after these observations, the candid reader can 
see the eternal misery of mankind proved from the 
Scriptures under consideration, all I have to add, is, 
that he can see more than I can. 

We come next to that passage, made much use of, 
against universal holiness and happiness, found in 
Matt. v. 29, 30. The force of my opponent's argu- 
ment rests on being " cast into hell," connected with 
the like passage in St. Mark ix., where the subject is 
exposed to be cast into the fire that never shall be 
quenched. 

Let us first inquire what constitutes hell. The 
word hell, undoubtedly, has different meanings in 
Scripture, sometimes signifying the grave, and some 
times a state of great trouble of mind in consequence 
of conscientious guilt. The hell r noted in our text, 



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205 



is of the latter signification, as no one will dispute ; 
but my query is, what constitutes this hell. I con- 
ceive it to be produced by the conjunction of contrary 
princi]Dles in the mind. All the vile appetites of man, 
were they gratified without the least restraint, could 
never produce this hell without the reflections of 
divine truth, in the understanding. Though the body 
might be debilitated by it, and impregnated with cor- 
rosive disorders, yet no disturbance is felt in the mind, 
until a divine principle wakes up, like a light shining 
in a dark place. As when a traveller enters a dark 
cave for rest, though poisonous serpents abide there, 
yet he may be undisturbed, until the sun rises and 
discovers to him, by what he had been entertained ! 
He is shocked, his blood runs cold, and he is in dis- 
tress until he makes his escape. It is evident that 
this traveller's trouble was produced by two circum- 
stances ; first, the serpents being there ; and secondly, 
the light's giving him the knowledge of it. This 
glorious light of heaven is not to be accused for having 
tormented the traveller ; and yet, had it not been for 
that, he might have felt no disturbance. So it is with 
man ; he might enter into all the vile abominations of 
a carnal mind ; he might indulge his fleshly appetite 
in every sensual pleasure ; he might indulge his feet in 
every by-path ; his eyes in every fleshly lust, and his 
hands in blood, and feel no remorse, were it not for 
this fire, which all the floods of corruption can never 
quench. 

The next question to which I wish to call the 
attention of the reader, is, whether the salvation of 



206 



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the sinner do not entirely depend on the force, power 
and unchangeable nature of this divine fire, which 
opens his eyes to see the poisonous nature of carnal 
pleasures and earthly - mindedness ? Could all the 
black waters of the carnal or old man, in the least 
degree, quench the heat of this fire, I own the sinner 
is lost forever; but his salvation is hoped for if the 
fire be never quenched. Here, again, the reader will 
observe that on the very expression upon which my 
opponent builds his argument I rest mine; showing 
its propriety by applying my key text, " If any man's 
work be burnt he shall suffer loss; but he himself 
shall be saved yet so as by fire." The man possessed 
of hay, wood and stubble, would not suffer the loss 
of them, were it not for that fire, by which the day of 
the Lord is revealed ; neither could he be saved, with 
a Gospel salvation, did not this fire consume those vile 
combustibles. 

My opj^onent may urge his argument, on another 
expression, in connection with this Scripture, namely, 
" Where the worm dieth not." Should we be ever so 
critical in investigating these words, they would be 
found to favor the idea for which I contend. If, by 
the worm be meant the wicked, which I am willing to 
grant, and which I know my opposer will contend for, 
what I need to add, is, that all it proves, is, this fire is 
not death to the sinner. All the moral death to which 
men are exposed is carnal-mindedness ; and all the 
moral life of which they can be possessed is contained 
in that spirit of divine animation which, in the Scrip- 
ture under consideration, is represented by fire that 



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207 



never can be quenched. I am as fully persuaded of 
this truth as I am of any idea in all my study ; and 
I believe my reader will be of my opinion if he will 
observe what Christ has further said concerning it in 
the conversation where the text lies. (See Mark ix. 
49, 50.) " For every one shall be salted with fire, and 
every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good; 
but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will you 
season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace 
one with another." All who observe attentively will 
easily see that the fire with which every one is to be 
salted is the same that never shall be quenched, and is 
that salt which Christ exhorts us to have in ourselves, 
which is productive of peace. The reader will easily 
see the impropriety of supposing such Scriptures in- 
dicative of the endless misery of mankind ; and the 
propriety of understanding them consonant with my 
key text, signifying the destruction of sin, and the 
salvation of the sinner. 

We next take notice of Matt. vii. 13, 14. The 
argument against me is rested on these expressions, 
namely, "And many there be which go in thereat," 
" And few there be that find it." In order to detect 
this argument as laconically as possible, I first ask, do 
the words few and many mean the same number 
when applied to the same subject of inquiry? I pre- 
sume all will answer, no. I then ask, is it proper or 
just to say the word many in Isa. liii. 11, where it is 
written, "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant 
justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities," means 
the same number as the word few in the text under 



208 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



consideration ? Again, Rev. vii. After an account is 
given of the hundred and forty and four thousand, it 
is said, verse 9 : " After this I beheld, and lo, a great 
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, 
and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before 
the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white 
robes, and palms in their hands." Will any one doubt 
the salvation of the many, spoken of by Isaiah, or the 
great multitude, quoted from Revelation ? If they do 
not, they can, with no propriety, contend that the few, 
spoken of by Christ, in the passage under examination, 
are all that will finally obtain salvation by him. 

Let us now take notice of the text in its true sense. 
The way of life is now what it always was and always 
will be, which is Christ, the heavenly man ; and the 
way to destruction is what it always was and always 
will be, which is the earthly Adam, or carnal, or old 
man. Christ spake, in the then present tense, showing 
that the multitude were all travelling in earthly- 
mind edness, which is death ; and that those who had 
truly found him, of whom Moses and the prophets did 
write, who walked in the Spirit, and not in the flesh, 
were but few. 

My opponent, seeing his objection, which rested on 
the words few and many answered, and the text 
rationally explained, aside from his idea, will wish to 
infer an argument, from what I have acknowledged, 
to oppose me. He will say, if the multitude, under 
the law, were not acquainted with the Gospel, they 
must be forever lost from holiness and happiness, as 
they died in that state of ignorance. I have already 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



209 



attended to this objection, but wish to write a few 
words more on the subject. The supposition that the 
soul cannot be altered for the better, after the death 
of the body, will confound the ideas of many who 
believe it. You ask one who believes there is no 
alteration after death, whether he believes the saint to 
be as peri'ect while he lives in this world as he will be 
hereafter ? And he will say, no. Ask him if he 
expect to be perfectly fitted for heaven and eternal 
glory while he inhabits this vile body, and "he will 
answer, no ; and yet he holds there is no alteration 
after death. Why the idea has become so general 
that souls cannot be enlightened and converted from 
sin to holiness after the death of the body is difficult 
for me to determine. If the soul continue a rational 
being, cannot the All-wise communicate knowledge to 
it out of the natural body as well as he can in it ? If 
the soul, after death, have a moral existence, it must 
be a subject oi moral principles, and stand accountable 
to a moral law adapted to his moral capacity ; and it 
must be as much the duty of souls hereafter to yield 
obedience to God as it is while they are in the body ; 
and to preclude the possibility of such obedience 
would be a dishonor to such a law. To deny the 
existence of those moral principles in the world to 
come, is denying the existence of rational happiness, 
or punishment. My opponent will say, if God have 
revealed to us, in the Scriptures of truth, that he will 
not afford any privilege after death to those who do 
not become true converts of Christ in this world, we 
have no right to say the reverse, however much our 



210 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



reason may be put to confusion. I answer, that may 
be granted without injury to my argument, as no such 
revelation has been made ; when it is it will be early 
enough to believe it. 

The parable of the tares of the field comes next 
under consideration. This passage needs not be 
quoted at large, as the reader has it perfectly in his 
mind. In order to do this subject justice, I will 
endeavor to state the objection on the ground upon 
which I believe my opponent would choose to rest it ; 
which is, the tares mean wicked men and women who 
are impenitent ; and as the tares are to be burnt, it 
signifies the awful state into which God will cast the 
wicked in the world to come. For the sake of argu- 
ment, I will grant, for a moment, what the objector 
states, and further inquire, if the righteous, or believ- 
ers in Christ, are represented by wheat and the wicked 
by tares, what is meant by the field, in which these 
two kinds of seed are sown ? It will not answer any 
one's mind to say that the field is the same as the seed 
sown ; then, what is it ? Says my opponent, it is the 
earth, on which the righteous and the wicked live : 
be it so : then let us seek the consequences. Of the 
tares, it is said, he that sowed them is the devil. 
According to this mode of reasoning, God has pro- 
duced some of the inhabitants of the earth, and the 
devil some ; and all the wrong there is in the affair is 
a matter of trespass. The devil has sown ground that 
did not belong to him, as it appears by the text that 
the field belonged to him who sowed the good seed ; 
and that he who sowed the tares occupied ground that 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



211 



did not belong to him. I do not see why the devil 
could not have created an earth as easily as to create 
men and women ; and then he might have occupied 
his own territory unmolested ! I do not wish to take 
too much advantage of an error, but I wish to make 
this matter so plain that no reader may fail of seeing 
the merits of the query. I will, therefore, inquire 
further, what constitutes those wicked whom the devil 
placed on this earth ? Have they ever deserted the 
service of Satan ; and, rebelling against their maker, 
sinfully yielded obedience to God ? If they have 
faithfully served their creator, I can see no sinfulness 
in them, and it would be bad argument to say that 
God would subject beings to his government whom he 
did not make. The thoughts of such consequences 
wean the objector's mind from the premises which 
afford them, and other answers to the question pro- 
posed must be sought for. What is meant by wheat ? 
what by tares ? and what by field, in which the wheat 
and tares are sown ? I think the answers must be as 
follow : The wheat means the same as is meant by 
seed spoken of in a former parable, the explanation of 
which introduces the one under examination. In the 
parable of the sower it is plain that Christ meant the 
Gospel, or the doctrine of truth by seed which he 
sowed ; and by the various kinds of soil into which 
the seed fell is meant the various circumstances, in 
a moral sense, of those to whom he preached the word 
of the kingdom. The truth then is plain ; by wheat is 
meant the true doctrine of Christ; the tares mean 
false doctrines which would be introduced by An- 



212 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



tichrist; and the field is mankind, or the church. 
Christ undoubtedly meant to represent the Christian 
apostacy in this parable ; in which state of the Church 
we find truth and error mixed, the Gospel of life and 
the doctrine of endless damnation like wheat and tares 
in the same field. Christians have framed to them- 
selves doctrinal creeds and modes of faith, and called 
them orthodox ; they have bowed down to their 
images, and said, These are the gods which brought 
us up out of the land of Egypt ; they have endeav- 
ored, by fire and sword, to destroy heresy, in which 
they have been as unskilful as Christ represented in 
the parable ; they were as likely to root up the wheat 
as the tares. But when these doctrines have brought 
forth their fruits, and it shall appear evident to all 
that evil consequences have always attended those 
creeds formed by men, it will be easy for those who 
are wise in the Gospel to gather those tares and bum 
them with that fire which consumes the hay, wood, 
and stubble; and to gather the true doctrine of Gospel 
promises into the garner, or Church of Christ, no more 
to be mixed with tares or falsehood. 

What a pity it is, speaking in reference to partial 
good and evil, that professed ministers of Christ 
should so vehemently contend for the truth of doc- 
trines which they themselves acknowledge no being 
wishes true, but the devil and his subordinate wicked 
spirits. It is the general topic of the day in this 
enlightened land, contended for in almost every pul- 
pit, that some of God's rational dependent creatures 
must, of necessity, suffer in endless torments, with 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



213 



devils, to blaspheme God forever, and never cease 
from sin, which they who believe and preach it wish 
and daily pray might be false. If false doctrines were 
intended by tares in this parable, and those tares are 
to be destroyed, the consequence must be salutary to 
mankind, for they will then know the truth, and the 
truth will make them free. 

My opponent may urge that his ideas of the par- 
able of the tares are most consonant to the explanation 
which Christ gave it, as it is there said, the tares 
are the children of the wicked one, etc. I do not 
wish to explain Christ's explanation ; but I believe 
the reader of the present day would be as likely to 
misunderstand the explanation as the parable itself. 
I know Christ said the good seed are the children of 
the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the 
wicked one. But I do not conceive that by children 
of the kingdom in this parable is meant the same as is 
meant by the same expressions in some other passages ; 
instance one, see Matt. viii. 12. " But the children of 
the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness," 
etc.; no one will suppose that the children of the 
kingdom, in the above quotation, are the same with 
those in the parable. Whatever is born of God is a 
child of God ; and this may be said of a person who is 
born in the kingdom of truth and grace ; or of that 
true faith by which he is so born, this faith being 
a divine production. For proof, see 1 John iii. 9. 
" Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." 
Here, no doubt, a human being may be intended ; 
again, see chap. v. 4. "For whatsoever is born of God 



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A TKEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



! 



overcometh the world, and this is the victory that over- 
cometh the world, even our faith." In this passage 
true faith is said to be born of God, and therefore my 
idea that the truths of the Gospel ought to be consid- 
ered the children of the kingdom, according to the 
parable, may appear consistent. I am disjDosed, how- 
ever, to condescend so much to my opponent as to ac- 
knowledge that the wicked are sometimes said to be 
the children of the devil, etc. (See St. John viii. 44.) 
"Ye are of your father the devil." (See verse 37.) 
" I know that ye be Abraham's seed." Again, verse 
39. "If ye were Abraham's children ye would clo 
the works of Abraham." I am sure my opponent 
would not wish to prove more from the above quota- 
tions than that those Jews were virtually the children 
of Abraham, but characteristically the children of the 
devil. Then, admitting wicked men are represented 
by tares in the parable, and this representation is 
a representation of character, then the destruction of 
the tares signifies a destruction of evil character, which 
argument, though I do not want, is forced upon me to 
my advantage in the query. 

The whole of the 25th chapter of Matthew, which 
contains the parable of the virgins, of the talents, 
and of the sheep and goats, is considered directly 
against the universal holiness and happiness of man- 
kind. In the parable of the virgins, those - were 
called foolish who took no oil in their vessels with 
their lamps, who were not ready to go into the 
marriage when the bridegroom came, but afterwards 
knocked, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, but 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



215 



were answered by Christy " Verily I say unto you, I 
know you not." 

Those foolish virgins, says my opposer, represent 
those who are to be rejected at last, who will be 
miserable as long as God exists. On supposition that 
were the case, how can it be proved ? Is there any- 
thing in this Scripture that positively testifies that to 
be the case ? My opponent will not contend there is, 
but only a parabolical allusion to the eternal destruc- 
tion of the wricked, not positive testimony of it. But 
I wish to say it is my opinion that a doctrine ought to 
be proved by plain testimony before we can be author- 
ized to apply allegories and parables to it. Supposing 
I were unable to give any rational account of the 
meaning of this parable, would it give my opponent 
any advantage? Would it not rest with him to prove 
that his application of the parable is just before he 
ought to bring it as an objection against the doctrine 
for which I argue ? If the reader can find anything 
in the parable which necessarily means endless misery, 
all I can say is he has made a discovery which I have 
not. But as I do not judge myself altogether ignorant 
of the true meaning of this parable, I will trouble the 
reader with a few inquiries explanatory of the passage. 
" Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 
ten virgins." When ? Is that time yet future ? If it 
be, nothing is to be understood by the connection of the 
discourse. The word, then, has reference to a desig- 
nated time, which we find in the 24th chapter and 
34th verse. " Verily I say unto you this generation 
shall not pass till all these things shall be fulfilled." 



216 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



According to the words of Christ, who undoubtedly 
knew his own meaning better than we do, all things 
prophesied of, in the 24th chapter, were fulfilled in 
that generation. Look back to the 23d chapter and 
36th verse. " Verily I say unto you all these things 
shall come upon this generation." The time of that 
generation was the time of the fulfilment of all things 
spoken of in the 24th and 25th chapters; there is no 
other time designated for the word, then, to apply to. 
I must inquire what kingdom of heaven this is which 
is represented by ten virgins, five of which are wise 
and five are foolish. One-half of the kingdom of 
heaven, according to this parable, is composed of 
foolish virgins ! This cannot mean the kingdom 
of eternal righteousness, where wisdom in her purity 
dwells. 

The foregoing observations may prepare the mind 
for the following concise explanation. The Jews, or 
God's covenant people, under the legal dispensation, 
are here represented by ten virgins. The close of the 
law dispensation, and the introduction of the Gospel 
is the time alluded to in the parable. The lamps sig- 
nify the rites and ordinances of the Levitical priest- 
hood, which contained the light of the expected 
Messiah. The oil, which the wise had in their vessels, 
with their lamps, was the knowledge of what those 
figures represented. The foolish, not looking from 
these rites to the antitype, but expecting salvation by 
the letter, were called foolish. John was the friend 
of the bridegroom, and was the voice of one, crying, 
behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



217 



him. Midnight represents the state of gross darkness 
which then covered the people. 

When Christ entered the sanctum sanctorum by 
his resurrection, and those whom he had chosen were 
ready, the door of the law was forever closed. The 
situation of the Jews ever since is represented by 
virgins without, knocking for entrance, etc. 

The reader will undoubtedly acknowledge the pro- 
priety of the above short explanation, but will endeavor 
to make some efforts against me with those blinded 
Jews. The idea that the Jews were so rejected by 
Christ that they would never obtain mercy by him, 
perhaps, is not warrantable from the Scriptures. The 
reverse appears evident from the testimony of Christ 
to them. (See Matt, xxiii. 37, 38, 39.) " O Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
them that are sent unto thee, how often w^ould I have 
gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under wings, and ye would not. Behold your 
house is left unto you desolate ; for I say unto you, ye 
shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, blessed is 
he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The fore 
part of the above is frequently recited to prove the 
endless rejection of the Jews, but the latter clause 
fully refutes such a sentiment. For, though Christ 
spake of the desolate state in which the Jews would 
be for a season, yet he points to a time when they 
should see him and call him blessed. If my opponent 
can reconcile this glorious prophecy with the endless 
exclusion of those Jews, I will not contend against him 
any more. 



218 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



We shall find it no less difficult to support the doc- 
trine of endless misery by the parable of the talents 
than by the parable of the virgins. The words which 
close this parable are what my opponent would found 
his objection upon. (See verse 30.) "And cast ye 
the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." That, says 
my opposer, means endless misery ; but how am I to 
know it does? Or how does he know it? Does the 
text necessarily carry that meaning ? No, it does not. 
The Psalmist says, "Weeping may endure for a night, 
but joy cometh in the morning." But if the night of 
weeping be endless, when will the morning of joy 
come ? The prophet Isaiah says that God shall wipe 
tears from all faces ; but if Christ meant, in this par- 
able, that some of the human race should weep to an 
endless eternity, he was of a different opinion from 
the prophet. Can we be justified in explaining the 
Scriptures into a positive contradiction? Must tradi- 
tion cause the whole Bible to bow down, on hearing 
all kinds of music, to the images which, by the craft 
of men, have been set up? Must the vain supposi- 
tions of men supersede the divine oracle ? Must the 
divine light of the plain testimony of the spirit of 
prophecy become dim before the moonshine of tradi- 
tion ? Without explaining this parable particularly, 
which I have done in my Notes, I must dismiss it, 
observing, it represents the same to which I applied 
the former. 

The parable of the sheep and goats, which concludes 
the 25th of Matthew, has been made great use of to 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



219 



oppose universal holiness and happiness, and to sup- 
jDort the doctrine of endless misery. Those arguments 
have been rested on the last words of the chapter, 
which read thus, "And these shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 
The word everlasting being applied to the misery of 
the wicked, it is contended that it must be endless. 
But I have sufficiently proved that the word ever- 
lasting is frequently applied to events which are not 
strictly eternal ; therefore, to contend for endless 
misery, from the force of that word, is begging ground 
which ought to have been given up before now. 

The adversaries of the doctrine of universal holiness 
and happiness have contended, with great seeming 
assurance, that if the word everlasting, which is here 
applied to the punishment of the wicked, do not mean 
an endless duration, the word eternal, used in the 
text, may not, as they both come from the same root ; 
and, consequently, they have urged that the happiness 
of the righteous may come to an end if the misery of 
the wicked do. In answer to so much ingenuity and 
argument, I say, the word eternal is not applied to the 
duration of happiness, but to the nature of that life 
which is brought to life through the Gospel ; and as 
that life is of the nature of the unchangeable Deity, 
we justly believe it to be endless; but I grant the 
word eternal being applied to it does not prove it to 
be so. Neither do I suppose it certain that those who 
entered into this life at that time continued invariably 
in the spirit of it. I believe a person may, by the 
grace of God, enter into the enjoyments of this eternal 



220 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



life at one time, and at another, by reason of his folly, 
may lose those enjoyments. Now, having shown the 
weakness of what the pretended critic has argued, 
I will give a few leading features of the parable; 
not taking up time to be particular for reasons already 
given. 

The time of Christ's coming in his glory was the 
day of Pentecost. His holy angels, with whom he 
came, were his chosen apostles. His glory is the 
gospel of eternal life. Sheep and goats signify believers 
and unbelievers. Right hand and left mean gospel 
and law. The believer stands in the gospel of life. 
The unbeliever is condemned already, and the wrath 
of God, in the letter of the law, abideth upon him. 
For proof that Christ's coming was in that generation, 
see Matthew xvi. 27, 28. " For the Son of man shall 
come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and 
then he shall reward every man according to his works. 
Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here 
which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of 
man coming in his kingdom." If Christ is to be 
understood as he said, if his words explain his meaning, 
it is clear that his coming in his glory, with his angels, 
to reward men according to their works, was some 
time in the lifetime of those to whom he spake. If 
this be true, which my opponent with his eyes open 
will not dispute, then no objection can be stated, from 
this parable, against the final holiness and happiness 
of all men. Should any say (as many have said), that 
they see no parable in the last paragraph of the 25th 
of St. Matthew, I will only add, if there be no parable 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



221 



in it, it only respects two kinds of animals called sheep 
and goats, and we have nothing to do with it.. We 
come to the last paragraph in the 16th of St. Luke, 
of which much use has been made against the doctrine 
of universal holiness and happiness ; and is said to 
contain a very literal account of the death of a rich 
man, and. of his being in hell after death ; and the 
death of a poor man, and his future happiness. It is 
contended by the most of those who oppose the doctrine 
which I endeavor to vindicate, that this paragraph ought 
to be taken and understood in its most literal sense, and 
that Christ did not intend it as a parable. Though I 
am very far from believing this paragraph to be a literal 
account, yet I will admit it for the better accommodat- 
ing of the argument. For if I do not, but only give 
my opinion on the passage, my opponent will' contend 
that the objection is not answered as he rests it on 
the laterality of the passage. Admitting the account 
just as literal as my opposer views it, is it possible for 
him to substantiate an objection against me from it ? 
I think not ; for were it possible to prove that an 
individual who died in the days of Noah had continued 
from that time until now in a state of misery, it would 
have no force to prove that such an individual would 
be miserable a single year longer, much less to prove 
that he would be endlessly so. Further, could it be 
proved that a person who recently died would be in 
the worst of torments for a million of years to come, 
it would fall infinitely short of proving that he would 
surfer endlessly. If the suffering of a rational being 
for a time prove that this being must be endlessly 



222 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



miserable, the proof stands against the whole family 
of Adam, not excepting Jesus himself. If my opponent 
be under the necessity of giving me the argument in 
this particular, which I know he must, then what 
evidence has he left, in the Scripture under considera- 
tion, to prove endless misery ? If it be urged against 
me that the gulf between Abraham and the rich man 
was impassable, it proves nothing with regard to its 
duration. Let us now examine the passage a little, 
taking notice of the common ideas of it. It is said, 
that the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell. Now, it 
is believed and argued that souls in hell are as destitute 
of any principle of goodness as the devil in which 
people believe; that they are fully engaged in the 
devil's service, and opposed to anything and all things 
which are favorable to the kingdom of the Saviour, 
This being the case, how is it that we have such an 
account of the prayer which the rich man made to his 
father Abraham, in favor of his five brethren ? He 
seems to be anxious for their welfare, and desires that 
they might not come into such a place of torment as 
he was in. How would such a prayer please Belzebub, 
the prince of devils? Did I believe in such a being, 
according to the general idea which people have of 
him, I should suppose he would be very much alarmed 
on hearing such benevolent prayers made in his dark 
dominions ! The prayer seems to favor the plan cf 
gospel grace more than the vile purposes of Satan, 
though it did not seem to dictate the matter exactly 
according to the divine purpose. It is generally 
believed that the devil is desirous of getting as many 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



223 



as possible into misery ; if so, and the rich man desired 
that his brethren might not come into that place of 
torment, let his reasons be what they might, it is 
evident that his desires were opposed to the devil's. 
U A kingdom, divided against itself, cannot stand." 
Again, it is argued by some that those who are in 
heaven will rejoice in consequence of the misery of 
those whom they see in torment, as the justice of God 
will, by their torments, be made to appear more 
glorious than it otherwise could, which, by the way, 
answers the most fervent desires of Satan. This being 
granted, should those who are in heaven, on seeing 
those in hell who in this world were their nearest 
connections, feel the smallest regret, much more desire 
to grant them assistance, it would be a complete 
violation of that justice which confined them there. 
But in our text it is shown that those who are in 
Abraham's bosom are desirous of going to the rich 
man, and their object is plainly seen, that it is to 
relieve him from his torments (see verse 26), " So that 
those who would pass from hence to you cannot." It 
is very evident that those who were in Abraham's 
bosom were desirous of assisting the rich man ; and, 
according to the common idea, it must have been 
deemed a rebellion against the will and justice of God, 
in consequence of which, if the devil deserved to be 
cast out of heaven for his disobedience, these un- 
doubtedly deserved the same condemnation ! If we 
look impartially into these things, it is easy to see that 
something wrong has been entertained in the common 
idea. By a little attention to the introduction of this 



224 



A TEEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



paragraph, the reader may easily see the whole was 
intended as a similitude to show the adultery which 
the high priest would commit in rejecting the Gospel 
and endeavoring to obtain justification by attending to 
the law in the letter, the situation of that part of Israel 
that was broken off through unbelief, which is repre- 
sented by five foolish virgins in the 25th of Matthew; 
the conversion of the Gentiles to Christianity, and 
their reception into Abraham's faith, etc. 

We pass to take notice of 2d Thess. i. 7, 8, 9. My 
opponent depends on the words " everlasting destruc- 
tion," on which to found his argument against the 
salvation of all men ; but as I have before proved that 
the word everlasting does not necessarily mean an 
endless duration, my opponent would fail in his argu- 
ment, even if he could show that the word everlasting 
in the text was applied to the duration of suffering. 
But this he cannot do ; for the word everlasting is not 
applied to the duration of punishment, but to the 
destruction with which the sinner is punished. That 
which is destroyed, I grant, is endlessly destroyed, 
But here I call in my key text to show that it is the 
hay, wood, and stubble which are to be destroyed. 
This will appear evident, if we observe the nature of 
the fire mentioned in our text : "And to you who are 
troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be 
revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in 
flaming fire, taking vengeance," etc. This fire is that 
in which Christ is revealed, and it comes from heaven. 
Is not this the fire with which he baptizes? Is not 
the fire revealed to destroy the hay, the wood, and 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



225 



the stubble ? Undoubtedly. And is the endless mis- 
ery of the sinner to be proved from the action of that 
divine fire which alone is able to effect his salvation? 
But the objector says the text reads for itself: "Who 
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from 
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his 
jiower ; " and if the sinner be punished from the 
presence of the Lord, he cannot be blessed in it, 
where there are joys forevermore. Answer : There 
is not a place in the universe which is out of the pres- 
ence of an omnipresent God. Therefore, to put a 
sinner from the presence of the Lord, he must be put 
out of the universe. But what means the text ? says 
the reader. Answer: that divine light and heat, 
which destroys moral darkness and purges man from 
all sin, is from the presence of the Lord as a produc- 
tion of the divine presence, as it is written concerning 
the man of sin, whom the Lord shall consume with 
the breath of his mouth, and destroy with the bright- 
ness of his coming. If God were not able to punish 
the sinner in the manner described in the text, I should 
despair of his salvation; but blessed be that divine 
spirit of light and love ; it truly takes such vengeance 
on the sinner as is worthy of a God. It makes him 
hate sin, brings down the high mountains of his pride, 
takes away the fig-leaf garment, and clothes the man 
in his right mind. 

There is a passage in the 12th of Matthew, the 31st 
and 32d verses, which has been contended for as an 
unanswerable objection to universal salvation. The 
text reads thus : " Wherefore I say unto you, all man- 



226 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



ner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men ; 
but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not 
be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a 
word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven 
him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, 
it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor 
in the world to come." The common idea of this 
world and the world to come is the present life of 
man on earth, and that state in which man exists here- 
after. Could it be proved that this was the right' 
meaning of the word world, there would be something 
more in the text than I can now see. Some, who 
have ably defended the doctrine of universal salva- 
tion have admitted the common idea of the passage, 
so far as it goes to prove future misery, yet have 
abundantly proved that it would come to an end. 
But if the word world have the signification of age 
or dispensation, as will not be disputed, it. will be im- 
possible to prove that anything, beyond what may be 
experienced by men in this mortal state, was intended 
in this text. We are informed that Christ came once 
in the end of the world to put away sin, by the sacri- 
fice of himself. The world, in the end of which 
Christ came, was undoubtedly the dispensation of the 
legal priesthood ; according to which idea the world 
which was then to come is the dispensation of gospel 
light which rose on the Gentile world for the purpose 
of bringing them to the knowledge and worship of 
the true God ; which dispensation ends with the con- 
version of the fulness of the Gentiles, and will be suc- 
ceeded by that in which Israel will be visited by the 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



227 



spirit of their Messiah, and shall say, Blessed is he 
who cometh in the name of the Lord. 

What I have written on this subject will show the 
reader the propriety of supposing that the sin w T hich 
the Pharisees committed in blaspheming the Holy 
Spirit, by which Christ wrought miracles, has been 
visited upon their descendants even to this day, and 
will continue upon them until the fulness of the Gen- 
tiles be come in. But I s«e no need of carrying the 
meaning of these words to an endless eternity, or even 
beyond the experience of man in this natural life. 
Therefore, admitting the doctrine of future punish- 
ment true, I cannot see it proved from these words. 

Could it be proved that eternal or endless misery 
was a natural production of the divine nature, there 
being an unchangeable principle to support such mis- 
ery, the argument on my part must be given up. If 
sin be, in a moral sense, the cause of misery, should 
sin ever be brought to an end, its consequences, which 
are misery, would also come to an end. If my oppo- 
nent can tell me how Jesus will finish sin and make 
an end of transgression, and yet sin and transgression 
continue as long as God exists, he will puzzle me more 
than all his objections have been able to do. 



CHAPTER III. 



REASONS FOR BELIEVING IN UNIVERSAL RECONCILIA- 
TION. 

Having answered, as I hope to the reader's satis- 
faction, some of the most important objections against 
God's universal goodness to his creatures, I shall now 
turn on the other hand, and give the reader some of 
my evidences for believing in the so-much-despised 
doctrine of universal holiness and happiness. First, 
I reason from the nature of divine goodness, in which 
all pretend to believe, and none dare in a direct sense 
to deny, that God could not, consistent with himself, 
create a being that would experience more misery 
than happiness. Secondly, if God be infinitely good, 
his goodness is commensurate with his power and 
knowledge ; then all beings whom his power produced 
are the objects of his goodness; and to prove that 
any being was destitute of it would prove that Deity's 
knowledge did not comprehend such being. Thirdly, 
there is as much propriety in saying that God is infi- 
nite in power, but that he did not create all things, as 
there is in saying, though God be infinite in goodness, 
yet part of his creatures will never be the partakers 
of it. It might as well be said that God is infinite in 
knowledge, and yet ignorant of the most part of 
events which are daily and hourly taking place, as to 
228 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 229 

say that he is infinitely good, and yet only a few of 
his creatures were designed for happiness. Fourthly, 
if the Almighty, as we believe him to be, did not pos- 
sess power sufficient to make all his creatures happy, 
it was not an act of goodness in him to create them. 
If he have that power, but possess no will for it, it 
makes a bad matter as much worse as is possible. I 
then reduce my opponent to the necessity of telling 
me if those whom he believes will be endlessly lost, 
be those whom God could save, but would not, or 
those whom he would save, but could not. If it be 
granted that God has both power and will to save all 
men, it is granting ail I want for a foundation of my 
faith. 

I would further argue that, as man is constituted to 
enjoy happiness, on moral principles (to the knowl- 
edge of which principles we come by degrees), it is as 
reasonable to believe that all men were intended to 
obtain a consummate knowledge of the moral prin- 
ciples of their nature as that any of Adam's race 
were. There is not an individual of the whole family 
of man who is perfectly satisfied with those enjoy- 
ments which earth and time afford him; the soul is 
constituted for nobler pleasures, which to me is an evi- 
dence that God has provided for all men some better 
things than can be found in earthly enjoyments, where 
we find but little except vanity and disappointment. 
There is an immortal desire in every soul for future 
existence and happiness. For the truth of this asser- 
tion I appeal to the consciences of my readers. Why 
should the Almighty implant this desire in us if he 



230 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

never intended to satisfy it ? Supposing a mother has 
the power of modifying the desires and appetite of 
her child, would she cause it to want that which she 
could not get for it ? Would she take pleasure in 
seeing her child pine for fruits which did not grow in 
the country where she lived, and which she could not 
get? Or would she prefer the anguish of the child to 
its happiness, when it was in her power to grant all it 
wanted? If such a mother were to be found, who 
would call her a godly woman ? Could her child, thus 
tormented, rise up and call her blessed ? No, surely 
it could not. 

I further argue that all wise, good, and exemplary 
men wish for the truth of the doctrine for which I 
contend ; they earnestly pray for the salvation of all 
men, and do all in their power, by the grace of God, 
to dissuade men from sin, to the obedience of the gos- 
pel ; they enlist willingly into the service of virtue, 
to endeavor to win proselytes to holiness; their object 
is the destruction of sin, and the advancement of 
righteousness, and they believe, and I think justly, that 
God will bless their labors. 

None but wicked men would wish for the endless 
duration of sin. Were it left to the carnal mind, it 
would wish for nothing but the privilege of drinking 
in iniquity forever. But those who truly love God 
and holiness desire night and day to overcome the 
vile propensities of their own deceitful hearts, and 
pray for the reconciliation of others to holiness and 
happiness. Now, why should we suppose that God is 
more of the mind of the wicked than of the right- 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 231 



eous ? If it be God's spirit in us which causes us to 
pray for the destruction of sin, is it reasonable to say 
that this same spirit has determined that sin shall 
always exist? Are we not right in judging of the 
nature and character of God from the dictates of his 
spirit in us? If so, does this spirit teach us the 
necessity of endless transgression and misery? I 
wish the reader to keep in mind that I hold sin and 
misery inseparably connected, and holiness and hap- 
piness so likewise. 

I further argue, if any of the human race be end- 
lessly miserable, the whole must be, providing they all 
know it ; for, reasoning from that spirit of benevolence 
which is necessary to a conformity to the principles of 
holiness, I prove it impossible for a well-disposed man 
to see another in misery, without bearing a very sensi- 
ble proportion of such misery. If it be argued that 
this idea is wrong, and that the spirit which dictates 
it is 01 the evil one ; I say, in answer, all good men 
in the world feel it to be a truth ; and no man ever 
exhibited more of it than the Saviour of the w^orld. 
Man is constituted with powers of sympathy ; and, 
while these principles last, he cannot enjoy complete 
happiness and see one of his fellow-creatures in tor- 
ment. I mistrust some one will say, then Christ is not 
completely happy, nor the saints who have gone be- 
fore us. I have no objection to the observation ; but 
think I see a divine beauty in the idea. I will query 
a little on the subject. It is generally believed that 
Christ existed before he was born in Bethlehem ; and 
it is evident from the Scriptures that he did. But I 



232 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



would inquire, what was his situation ? Was it a state 
of complete happiness? I think likely this question 
will generally be answered in the affirmative. Then I 
further ask, had he no desire for the salvation of sin- 
ners before he came into our world ? Here the ques- 
tion must be answered in the affirmative, let the other 
question be answered as it may ; for, if that were not 
the case, why did he come for the express purpose of 
saving them? If he willed and intended the salvation 
of mankind, and also determined to encounter all the 
sufferings that were finally laid upon him in favor of 
so worthy an object, it is evident his happiness was 
not complete ; neither do I believe it will be until he 
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. 

If any one should be so particular as to query, ask- 
ing, if the Almighty himself be not desirous of the sal- 
vation of sinners; and if so, how can his happiness be 
complete ? I answer, a being, to whom events do not 
take place in succession, nor time pass away, with 
whom an eternity is a present now, whose knowledge 
is intuitive, and who can neither hope nor anticipate, 
can neither increase nor decrease in happiness. But 
when we speak of God, abstractedly, our words ought 
to be few and chosen. 

I have, I think, sufficiently proved in this work that 
Jesus Christ is a created, dependent being, and that 
he stands at the head of the creation of man, etc. If 
I be right in that idea, I think I may reasonably argue 
that he is a being to whom events take place in suc- 
cession, who hopes and anticipates, and who, for the 
joy set before him, endured the cross, and despised 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



233 



the shame. Therefore, until the great work of his 
mission is completed, I cannot conceive that his hap- 
piness will be complete. If it be argued that Christ, 
when on the cross, said it was finished, and that, in a 
moral sense, he felt no more pain for sinners, I have 
a right to object, for I do not know what warrant the 
Scripture gives for believing all this argument. That 
the sufferings of Christ, as to answer the type of a sin- 
offering, were then ended, is a reasonable idea ; but to 
suppose that Christ was then dispossessed of that prin- 
ciple which caused him to feel for the woe of mankind, 
does not appear reasonable. I have no idea that the 
glorious Captain of our salvation now suffers as he did, 
when he said, "My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
saken me ? " But I believe that he whose soul trav- 
ailed for the redemption of man, now increases in joy 
as the work of reconciliation is going on, to the de- 
struction of sin and the conversion of sinners. He 
has told us that there is more joy in the presence of 
the angels over one sinner that repenteth than over 
ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance. 
I do not conceive that one part of human nature can 
be made perfectly happy while the rest are in misery. 
When St. Paul spake of those who died in faith, not 
having obtained the promise, he says, "God having 
provided some better things for us, that they, without 
us, could not be made perfect." 

Those who are the most devout on earth are the most 
desirous for the advancement of the Redeemer's king- 
dom, and the deliverance of themselves and their fel- 
low-men from sin and misery. For the sake of a case, 



234 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



I will suppose a Christian, to-day, is exercised with 
fervent desires for the reconciliation of sinners ; at 
night, he dies. Do all those holy desires cease at 
death ? If they do not, but do continue, though the 
happiness of the soul be great, yet it is, at least, capa- 
ble of being enlarged, or increased, by the prosperity 
of the Redeemer's cause among men. 

How the idea ever got place in the human mind, 
that even fathers and mothers, in the world to come, 
would rejoice to see their own offspring in endless 
flames and hopeless torments, I can hardly conceive ; 
though the probability is, it was first invented to 
shun, in theory, those difficulties not otherwise to be 
avoided. I wish to use this error as prudently as pos- 
sible ; but I wish to have it rightfully understood, and 
judged of impartially. Will perfect reconciliation 
to God have this effect ? I know it is contended 
that it will ; but what evidence have we of it ? Was 
not Christ reconciled, or in a state of conformity to 
God's law? Did he manifest joy at the sufferings 
of mankind? When he looked on Jerusalem, that 
abominable city, and knew that its chiefs would be 
his murderers, when he spake of the dreadful calam- 
ities just ready to burst on their devoted heads, how 
did he feel? Streams of sorrow break from the eye 
of innocence ; in his grief, he spake of their destruc- 
tion, but prophecies of their seeing him again, when 
they should welcome him, saying, " Blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord ! " 

If perfect reconciliation to God will effect complete 
happiness at the sight of human misery, the more we 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



235 



are reconciled to God the more satisfaction we should 
take in seeing our fellow-creatures miserable ! Then, 
those who can look on men in distress with the least 
sorrow are the most reconciled to divine goodness ; 
and those who feel the most sorrow at the afflictions of 
their fellow-men are the most perverse and wicked ! 
Some may say, heaven is entirely different from this 
world, and when we get there we shall be totally 
changed from what we now are ; therefore, it will not 
do to argue what Ave shall be there from what we 
ought to be here. Then the awful fact is, all we call 
goodness here will be called badness there ; and that 
which we call badness here will be goodness there ! 

If the effects of moral holiness in the world to come 
should be different from what they are here, I wish to 
be informed on what moral principle the change is 
made. If these things be so, the souls of the cruel 
need but little alteration to prepare them for heaven, 
and that little laid out in making them what we should 
call worse. Such a heaven as this does not, I hope, 
exist in the universe. My opponent will urge his 
argument still further on this subject, and say, it is 
not the misery of the wicked that affords so much 
pleasure to those who are in heaven, but their joy is 
increased in consequence of the execution of justice. 
This, however, is giving up what is contended for, 
namely, that every degree of misery will create 
thousands of degrees of happiness, because, could 
divine justice be as well understood without this 
misery as with it, the misery itself would do no good. 
I am willing to grant that a good man will prefer the 



236 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



execution of justice to his own private ease, or the 
partial happiness of a criminal. But how would a 
judge appear who should manifest joy and gladness on 
pronouncing the sentence of death upon one of his 
fellow-men? Who would not turn from such a 
court with disgust and deep abhorrence ? To call such 
a circumstance an instance in which men have an 
occasion to rejoice is a violation of our senses. I will 
say for myself, I neither expect nor desire perfect 
happiness while I see my fellow-men in misery ; I had 
rather be possessed of that sympathy which causes me 
to feel for another than to enjoy an unsocial pleasure 
in a frosty heaven of misanthropy ? Is it possible that 
we should be completely happy and see those in misery 
whom we love? No one will say we can. Are we 
not commanded to love our enemies ? Can we be 
truly happy and not love them ? Surely we cannot ; 
then how can we be completely happy and see them 
miserable? A parent may be persuaded to attend his 
child while a surgeon performs an amputation; but 
with what acute feelings his heart is agitated ! How 
eagerly would he inhale the pain and make it his own 
w T ere it possible ? But there is something in all this 
that is tolerable ; he is in hopes of saving the life of 
his child : were it not for his hopes could he endure 
the sight? But what is all this compared with a 
parent viewing his child in endless flames ! O parents, 
what a blessed circumstance it is that when we are 
called to part with our children on earth, we can 
mingle a little joy with the sorrow in hoping that they 
belong to the deathless family in heaven! If the good 



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237 



desires which are found in the Christian heart are ever 
to be satisfied universal subjection to the government 
of Christ will surely take place : if virtue ever gains 
an universal victory over sin and vice, universal 
holiness and happiness will be the consequence. Man 
exists on such a principle as renders him caj>able of 
improving in knowledge and happiness, which he 
obtains by experience ; and it is very evident that as the 
wheels of time move man is fast advancing, which 
favors the idea that at some period known to Deity 
the desired haven will be obtained in the acquisition 
of that wisdom which is from above. 

When we send our children to school it is for the 
purpose of learning that of which they are ignorant ; 
and it is by degrees that those sciences are obtained 
which constitute them learned. When a child first 
takes a quill in hand to write, he blunders, but does 
not blunder so as to imitate the copy, neither will two 
out of a thousand imitate each other. 

Men begin their moral existence in their separate 
capacity in the same way; unacquainted with the 
skill of their divine preceptor, they err from sacred 
rules and differ from their fellow-pupils. Jars and 
broils ensue, and sorrow and woe are the consequences. 
But as they become taught they conform to the divine 
rules of their master, and learn that their happiness 
consists in being united. Happiness is the greatest 
object of all rational beings, and no one will follow any 
particular object any longer than he thinks it sub- 
servient to his main one. The reason why men sin 
is, they think, and think erroneously, that they shall 



238 



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obtain more happiness in so doing than in following 
the dictates of truth. But is it reasonable to suppose 
that the error will never be discovered? Will the 
sinner never find his mistake? O yes, says my 
opposer, to his eternal confusion and endless misery ! 
But stop a moment; if he find his mistake he will 
abandon the object; and when he ceases to sin he 
begins to reform and approximate towards holiness 
and happiness. I have sufficiently argued that man 
cannot be miserable, in consequence of moral condem- 
nation, any longer than he is, in a moral sense, a 
sinner. Then he must sin endlessly in order to be 
miserable so long; which if so, he w T ill never find his 
mistake, he w T ill never learn that righteousness and 
truth are more productive of happiness than sin. But 
I think it erroneous to suppose that a being who is 
capable of learning anything cannot learn some time 
short of eternity that it is better to do right than 
wrong. Should we argue, however, that that might 
in some cases be true, it would destroy the idea of 
complete and positive misery for which my opponent 
contends. Complete misery would not admit of a 
prospect which could administer the smallest hope ; in 
which case, the soul would have no object which could 
possibly induce it to action ; then would the soul 
become inert, and its existence would be destroyed, 
and become not a subject of happiness or misery. 

I would argue again, from a reasonable idea, ad- 
mitted by all, namely, that mankind, in their moral 
existence, originated in God. Why, then, do we deny 
his final assimilation with the fountain from whence 



A TRKATISK ON ATONKMKNT. 



239 



he sprang? The streams and rivulets which water 
the hill-country run in every direction, as the make of 
land occasions. They are stained with various mines 
and soils through which they pass ; but at last they 
find their entrance into the ocean, where their different 
courses are at an end, and they are tempered like the 
fountain which receives them. Though man, at pres- 
ent, forms an aspect similar to the waters in their 
various courses, yet, in the end of his race, I hope 
he will enjoy an union with his God, and with his 
fellows. 

Having given a few hints, from the nature of moral 
beings, in favor of my general plan, I shall beg the at- 
tention of the reader to some evidences, from the 
Scriptures of truth, in favor of universal holiness and 
happiness. The method I intend to pursue will be 
conclusive; for I am determined to admit no Scripture 
as evidence, in this case, that needs any interpretation 
to cause it to mean what I wish to prove ; therefore I 
shall produce but a small part of the Scriptures 
which I conceive have a direct meaning in favor of 
Universal ism. 

It will not be doubted that man was created in 
Christ, who, the apostle says, is the head of every 
man. To this point I have already attended in this 
work, and sufficiently proved it. I have also argued 
that the formation of man was after his creation, as 
appears from the account given in Genesis. Now, 
what I wish to prove from Scripture is a complete 
deliverance of the whole humanity from mortality, 
and the governing power of the law of sin which is 



240 



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found in our members, to a reinstatement in the 
heavenly Adam of immortality, where the law of the 
spirit of life will be the whole governing power to 
which man will be subjected. It seems reasonable 
to conclude that man in a spiritual sense was created 
in Christ, the heavenly nature, as his body was 
formed in Adam, the earthly. And as all our bodies 
came from that one formation, so all our spirits came 
from that one creation. As it is by the nature of this 
one formed creature that we are all brought into 
a state of moral death, so it must be by the spirit 
of this one created man that all will be brought 
finally to the enjoyment of spiritual life and peace. 
There is a passage in Acts iii. 20, 21, which reads very 
literally in proof of my argument. "And he shall 
send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto 
you : whom the heaven must receive until the times 
of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken 
by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world 
began." Can there be any dispute, in the reader's 
mind, respecting the nature of this restitution ? Will 
any one pretend that this restitution is only rein- 
stating man in a state of probation ? If that were the 
object of Christ's coming into our world, if that were 
intended by his death and resurrection, was not the 
work already done when Peter spake these words ? 
Why then does he speak of the times of restitution yet 
to come ? Or, if this restitution of all things only meant 
the restitution of honor to the law, by the sufferings of 
Christ, I ask, again, was this not also past, when Peter 
spake these words ? I cannot conceive that a restitution 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



241 



of man to any state which he has occupied in flesh and 
blood is worthy of the Gospel plan ; for it is said of 
man, in his earthly nature, his best estate is vanity. 
But if we view the plan of the restitution of all things, 
which is to be accomplished in the fulness of times, a 
restitution or restoration from mortality and sin to 
a state of immortality and righteousness, it is con- 
sistent with Scripture, and worthy of God. If my 
opponent, in his struggles, should say, things do not 
refer to men, I would ask, w T hat the word things does 
mean in Scripture when used as it is in the passage 
quoted ? I cannot guess to what he would apply it. 
I will quote two passages more where the word is 
used. (See Col. i. 20.) " And (having made peace 
through the blood of his cross) by him to reconcile all 
things to himself, by him, I say, whether they be 
things in earth or things in heaven." That the things 
to be reconciled are men may be seen by verse 21. 
" And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies 
in your minds by wricked works, yet now hath he 
reconciled." The way in which Christ effected this 
work is expressed in the 22d verse, " in the body 
of his flesh, through death, to present you holy, and 
unblamable, and unreprovable in his sight." (Eph. 
i. 10.) "That in the dispensation of the fulness of 
times he might gather together in one all things in 
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on 
earth." The reader will do well to observe the 
similarity between the last quoted passage and that in 
Acts. There, it is said, " until the times of the 
restitution of all things," and here, it is said, " that in 



242 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might 
gather together in one all things in Christ." The 
11th verse says, "in whom also we have obtained an 
inheritance." ~No doubt can be entertained respecting 
the things to be restored and reconciled and gathered 
together in Christ. There is part of the words 
of Peter which I quoted from Acts Avhich ought to be 
particularly noticed in order to cause those who have 
said the doctrine for which I contend is a new doc- 
trine, to consider whether they are right in that 
matter. The words are these, " Which God hath 
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the 
world began." If all God's holy prophets believed in 
the doctrine of the restitution of all things, I hardly 
think it is so modern as some pretend. 

I will next call the attention of the reader to what 
the holy prophets have said in support of the doctrine 
of the restitution of all things. But as their testimony 
stands on the promise of God to Abraham, which 
contains the fulness of the doctrine for which I con- 
tend, I will notice it, in the first place, as the sum of 
all which the prophets have said concerning the 
coming of the Just One and the glory of his kingdom. 
(See Gen. xii. 3.) "And I will bless them that bless 
thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee 
shall all the families of the earth be blessed." This 
promise is expressed in chapter xxii. verse 18, thus, 
"And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
blessed." That there may be no dispute what this 
blessing is, and that the reader may see it to be 
justification through faith, see Gal. iii. 8. "And 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



243 



the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the 
heathen through faith preached before the gospel 
unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be 
blessed." What a glorious foundation for hope is 
here. How blessed was Abraham when he rejoiced in 
the day of Jesus. How blessed were the prophets 
of the Lord who saw these things, though afar off ; 
the sight weaned their affections from all earthly 
things ; they sought a city which hath foundation, 
whose builder and maker is God. Oh, thanks be to 
my God, since I can call thee so ; the belief of this, 
thy promise, produces as much heaven as I am able 
to bear while in the body. When Jacob blessed his 
sons, he spake of the coming of Shiloh, unto whom, 
saith he, shall the gathering of the people be. (See 
Gen. xlix. 10.) How exactly does this testimony of 
the patriarch agree with that of the apostle; "Unto 
him shall the gathering of the people be," " That in 
the dispensation of the fulness of times he might 
gather together in one all things in Christ." We will 
hear what the prophet David says concerning the 
kingdom of Christ, Psalm lxxii. 11. " Yea, all kings 
shall fall down before him ; all nations shall serve 
him." (Verse 14.) " He shall redeem their soul from 
deceit and violence." (Verse 17.) " And men shall 
be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed." 
If any wish to argue that David meant no other than 
Solomon by the King's son, let them take notice of the 
7th and 8th verses. " In his days shall the righteous 
flourish ; and abundance of peace so long as the moon 
endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to 



244 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." 
The moon yet endures, but the reign of Solomon does 
not. The kingdom spoken of in the text was to be 
universal ; but Solomon's was not. Let us take parti- 
cular notice of the 11th verse. "Yea, all kings shall 
fall down before him." Shall all the cruel tyrants of 
the earth bow down to him who was born in a stable ? 
Shall all the haughty kings of proud and wealthy 
nations bow down to him whose chosen companions 
when on earth were poor fishermen ? Will you, my 
opponent, say this is a pleasing doctrine to the carnal 
mind ? Herod, who caused the massacre in Beth- 
lehem, in order to murder Christ in infancy, could 
hardly be persuaded that it was agreeable to his 
carnal mind to bow before Jesus, at the head of this 
little band of martyrs. No, carnal mind must be 
crucified before all this can be done. 

Would it please the present kings of Europe to tell 
them to beat their swords into ploughshares, and their 
spears into pruning-hooks, and to learn w T ar no more ? 
Would it be agreeable to their carnal, proud and 
haughty minds to submit to the religion of the Saviour? 
Which of them would, in order to gratify carnal- 
mindedness, abandon all his equipage, his horses and 
chariots of state, mount a forlorn ass, ride into an 
enemy's land, preach peace and salvation to his in- 
veterate foes, die by cruel hands, and pray for his 
murderers in death? And can you believe that all 
the kings of the earth can bow down before the 
Saviour, with any more gratification to carnal-minded- 
ness, than they could imitate him in his life and death? 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



245 



"All nations shall serve him." If all nations serve 
Christ, will they not all be blessed in him according 
to the promise ? I do not argue that any will be 
blessed in Christ who do not serve him ; but the text 
says all nations shall serve him. (Psa. xxxvii. 10.) 
" For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be, 
yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it 
shall not be." (Verse 36.) " Yet he passed away, 
and he was not, yea I sought him, but he could not be 
found." If the wicked continue in sin as long as God 
exists, it appears to me to be improper to say, "Yet a 
little while, and the wicked shall not be." And if God 
has prepared a place of endless torments for the wicked, 
and that in sight of the righteous in heaven, it is 
hardly proper to say, "Thou shalt diligently consider 
his place, and it shall not be." And if the wicked are 
to be tormented forever, in sight of the righteous, 
why is it said, "I sought him but he could not be 
found " ? (Psa. xxii. 27.) " All the ends of the world 
shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the 
kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." 
Who will doubt the salvation of those who turn unto 
the Lord and worship before him ? (See Psa. ii. 7, 8.) 
" I w 7 ill declare the decree : the Lord hath said unto 
me, thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee; 
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
thy possession." Compare this beautiful passage with 
one like it in Col. i. 19. " For it pleased the Father 
that in him should all fulness dwell." In what a 
capacious Saviour did David believe ! Should a 



246 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



preacher at the present day recite the words which I 
have just quoted he would immediately be accused of 
holding the heretical doctrine of universal salvation, 
as his hearers might be pleased to call it ; or should 
he communicate the doctrine half as clearly as it is 
communicated in those quotations, that part of his 
audience who were warmly opposed to the doctrine 
would grow uneasy, while those who favored the 
doctrine would be satisfied their speaker did so like- 
wise. Some method must be used to explain those 
Scriptures differently from what they say, or the 
doctrine for which I contend is fairly proved by 
them. 

Let us pass to the prophecies of Isaiah ; see chap, 
xxv. 6, 7, 8. " And in this mountain shall the Lord 
of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a 
feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, 
of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy 
in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all 
people, and the veil that is spread over all nations., 
He will swallow wp death in victory; and the Lord 
God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the 
rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all 
the earth : for the Lord hath spoken it." No one will 
doubt that the provisions here spoken of are those 
which are provided in the gospel of salvation. 

In the first place, then, observe it is made for all 
people; this proves that it was the intention of him 
who made the feast that all people should share in its 
divine benefits. 

Secondly. It is testified that the veil of darkness 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



247 



which was over all people shall finally be taken 
away. 

Thirdly. That death is to be swallowed np in 
victory, and tears wiped away from off all faces. And, 

Lastly. That the rebuke of God's people should 
be taken from off all the earth. And the evidence 
given to prove it all would be done, is, the Lord hath 
spoken it. 

It is of no avail for any to pretend that though the 
provisions of the gospel were provided for all people 
yet all will not partake of them, let the reasons be 
what they may; for if God wipe tears from off all 
faces, all must receive the benefits of gospel grace and 
peace. Compare this testimony with 1 Cor. xv. 54. 
" So when this corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then 
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
death is swallowed up in victory." Again, with Rev. 
xxi. 4. " And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain : for the former things are passed away." How 
can it be justly said that death is swallowed up in 
victory w T hen the fact is death will reign as long as 
God exists ? Or, how can it be said that God shall 
wipe away all tears from the eyes of men, if millions 
are to mourn to an endless eternity ? Or, why is it 
said there shall be no more sorrow, crying nor pain, if 
sorrow, crying and infinite j>ain are never to cease? 
Isaiah ix. 6, 7, the Saviour is prophesied of as possess- 
ing a kingdom, the increase of which should have no 



248 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



end. To the same purpose, see, also, Daniel vii. 14. 
"And there was given him dominion, and glory, and 
a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, 
should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting 
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed." 

Observe, "All people, nations, and languages shall 
serve him." If a great part of the human race are to 
exist in endless rebellion against Christ and his king- 
dom, it seems that the prophet was not only ignorant 
of it but believed the reverse. (Isaiah xlix. 6.) "And 
he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my 
servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore 
the preserved of Israel : I will also give thee for a light 
to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto 
the ends of the earth." (Verse 8.) " I will preserve 
thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people," etc. 

For the strength of this covenant, see Jer. xxxiii. 20. 
" Thus saith the Lord ; if ye can break my covenant 
of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that 
there should not be day and night in their season ; 
then may also my covenant be broken with David my 
servant," etc. 

When men are possessed of sufficient agency to 
stop the wheels of time, to silence the motion of the 
solar system, and to disannul God's covenant with 
day and night, then day and night will depend on the 
will of man. So, likewise, when he has agency to 
disannul that covenant which is ordered, and in all 
things sure, then his eternal salvation will depend on 
himself, and not on his God. 



A TKEATISE OX ATONEMENT. 



249 



Attend to one similitude of the Redeemer's glory, 
from the prophecy of Ezek. xvii., last paragraph : 
"Thus saith the Lord God, I will also take of the 
highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I 
w ill crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender 
one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and emi- 
nent : in the mountain of the height of Israel will I 
plant it : and it shall bring forth boughs and bear 
fruit and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell 
all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches 
thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the 
field shall know that I the Lord have brought down 
the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried 
up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to 
flourish : I the Lord have spoken, and have done it." 
Time would fail me to write one-half that might be 
quoted from the prophets on this subject. I ask for 
no explanation on their testimony ; if what they say 
do not prove my doctrine, I will not have recourse to 
explanations. 

I have reasoned from the goodness of God to prove 
that it is his will that all men should finally be holy 
and happy ; I will now call proof from divine revela- 
tion to the same idea. See St. Paul's 1st Epistle to 
Timothy, ii. 4: "Who will have all men to be saved, 
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." What 
could induce St. Paul to write this sentence if he did 
not believe it? My opponent will say he supposes 
Paul did believe it, and will acknowledge he believes 
it himself. Then, I say, all for which I argue is 
granted. But my opponent has a method by which 



250 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



he can explain this passage so that it may be true, and 
yet God may will the endless misery of millions. It 
is only to say that the passage is expressive of God's 
revealed will, but not of his secret will, arguing that 
his revealed will is in direct opposition to a will which 
he has seen fit not to reveal ! 

Though much use is made of this method in order 
to shun the force of this passage and many others, if 
there be any propriety in it it is out of my sight ; or 
if it would not betray a want of good sense in any 
other case I will leave my reader to judge. 

To say God's revealed will is contrary to his eternal 
and unreyealed will, would in me be blasj^hemy of the 
first magnitude ; yet I do not doubt the sincerity of 
those who frequently say it. But is it not in a direct 
sense charging God with hypocrisy? However shock- 
ing it may seem, I know of no other light in which to 
view it. 

Again, if God have a will which he has not revealed, 
and my opponent knows what it is, I would ask how 
lie came by this knowledge? God's revealed will is 
that all men should be saved, but his secret will is that 
most of them should be endlessly miserable ! I would 
ask when this will was a secret? It has been openly 
talked of by limitarians ever since the light of the 
gospel advanced so as to discover the apostacy of 
Christians. 

St. Paul speaks of the mystery of God's will which 
he proposed in himself, which the apostle says God 
has made known. See Eph. i. 9: "Having made 
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



251 



his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself." 
And in verse 10 he tells what this will is, but it is 
very different from what my opposer says the hidden 
will of God is: "That in the dispensation of the ful- 
ness of times he might gather together in one all 
things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which 
are on earth, even in him." St. Peter says God is not 
willing that any should perish, but that all should 
come unto repentance. 

In short, I cannot see the propriety of saying that 
God will have all men to be saved, and to come unto 
the knowledge of the truth, if he predestinated from 
all eternity millions for endless misery ; and if he cre- 
ated any to glorify him in endless torments, I cannot 
see why he should not be willing for them to perish, 
and answer the end for which he made them. 

Again, what is that truth which God wills all men 
to know? According to the words of the text, it 
must be a truth consonant to their salvation, or they 
could not be saved and yet believe the truth. For 
instance, suppose out of the whole alphabet all are to 
be endlessly miserable except the vowel letters, and 
the whole alphabet was brought to the knowledge of 
the truth ; surely the vowels would believe they were 
to be saved, but all the consonants would believe they 
were going into endless torments ; and the faith of 
the consonants would be as true a faith as that of the 
vowels. But how could the consonants enjoy salva- 
tion while possessing this faith ? 

There are some who do not admit my general sys- 
tem who will admit this part of it, namely, that it is 



252 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT* 

the will of God that all men should finally be holy 
and happy, but say at the same time that it depends 
on the creature's accepting of offered mercy on the 
rational conditions of gospel obedience, making gospel 
obedience a prerequisition to salvation ; while I contend 
that gospel obedience is, in fact, gospel salvation. 

To be saved from sin is surely a gospel salvation, 
and to be obedient, according to the dictates of gospel 
grace, is salvation from sin. There is just as much 
propriety in making obedience a condition on which 
salvation is granted, as there w T ould be for a physician 
to propose to a patient in a fit of the asthma that he 
would afford relief on condition the patient should 
first breathe easily. However, if it be granted that it 
is God's will that all men should finally be holy and 
happy, I will more directly answer the supposition 
that this will may fail by the words of St. Paul. See 
Eph. i. 11:' "In whom we also have obtained an in- 
heritance, being predestinated, according to the pur- 
pose of him W'ho w^orketh all things after the counsel 
of his own will." If God will have all men to be 
saved, and worketh all things after the counsel of his 
own will, it proves that for which I contend as fully 
as anything can be proved from Scripture. My oppo- 
nent, perhaps, will say (as many have said to me in 
conversation) after meeting with much difficulty in 
arguing, "Anything may be proved by Scripture." 
To which I reply there is one thing that the Scrip- 
tures do not prove, neither can all the ingenuity of 
man make them substantiate it, and that is, the endless 
misery of a moral being. 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



253 



If any of my opposers can prove, by Scripture, the 
endless duration of sin and misery, as plainly as the 
two passages above recited prove universal holiness 
and happiness, I will never contend any more on the 
subject. 

I will take further notice of Paul's communication 
to Timothy. He goes on, in the 5th and 6th verses, 
to give Timothy a reason for what he had asserted ; 
" For there is one God, and one Mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself 
a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." The 
apostle's reasoning is evidently good and plain ; for 
God would not have given his Son a ransom for all, if 
it were not his will that all should be saved ; and if it 
be God's will it ought to be ours, therefore it is right 
to pray for all. If the ransom were paid for all, it 
argues that it was the intention of the Ransomer that 
all should be benefitted. 

What would have been the astonishment of the 
world, after the immortal Washington had caused to 
be paid a ransom for all the American prisoners who 
were in Algerine slavery, if he had told the Dey that 
he did not want more than one quarter of those cap- 
tives sent home to the land of liberty and to the enjoy- 
ment of their families, for which they had so long 
sighed in bondage ; and that he might wear out the 
rest with fatigue and whips ? But the good man's 
soul was never satisfied until they all came home, and 
with songs of joyous liberty hailed the land of their 
nativity! And blessed be the Captain of our salva- 
tion ; he, also, shall see of the travail of his soul and 



254 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



be satisfied, when all the " ransomed of the Lord shall 
return and come, to Zion with songs and everlast- 
ing j oys upon their heads, when they shall obtain 
joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee 
away." 

The reader's attention is now invited to those Scrip- 
tures which, in expression, are more particularly ap- 
plicable to the deliverance of mankind from this 
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the 
children of God. 

The whole of the 15th chapter of the 1st Epistle to 
the Corinthians was intended to refute those who de- 
nied the resurrection ; but as that doctrine is not 
denied by my opponent, I shall take notice only of 
those parts which affect the argument between us. 
(See verse 20.) " But now is Christ risen from the 
dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.'" 
Christ, as the first fruits of them who slept, is repre- 
sented by the heave-offering under the law. (See 
Num. xv. 19, 20.) "Then it shall be that, when ye 
eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave- 
offering unto the Lord. Ye shall offer up a cake of 
the first of your dough, for an heave-offering : as ye do 
the heave-offering of the threshing-floor, so shall ye 
heave it." (Exod. xxii. 29.) " Thou shalt not delay 
to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors ; 
the first born of thy sons shalt thou give unto me." 
(See, also, Num. xviii. 15.) By the offering of the 
first ripe fruits, the whole of the succeeding harvest 
was sanctified ; and in the first born which were re- 
deemed, the succeeding fruits of the womb were con- 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



255 



sidered holy. (See Acts xxvi. 23.) "That Christ 
should suffer, and that he should be the first that 
should rise from the dead." Christ being the first 
who rose from the dead, and rising as the first fruits, 
sanctifies all the rest, as did the first fruits under the 
law. St. Paul's comment on first fruits is very illustra- 
tive of the scriptural meaning thereof. (See Rom. ix. 
16.) " For if the first fruits be holy, the lump is also 
holy ; and if the root be holy so are the branches." 

In the heave-offering under the law there is a beau- 
tiful representation of our Saviour. The sheaf taken 
from the field, being separated from all the rest of the 
same growth, represents the separation of Jesus Christ 
from mankind to be holy unto the Lord ; and the sanc- 
tification of the whole harvest, being by the first ripe 
fruits, is to show us that our sanctification is in Jesus, 
the first fruits of them that slept. The same may be 
clearly seen in the instance of the dough ; a certain 
part of it was to be separated from the rest for an 
offering unto the Lord in which the remaining part of 
the lump (as the apostle calls it) was considered holy. 

These observations are made here in order to draw 
the reader's attention more closely to the labors of the 
apostle which we have under consideration ; for he 
goes on immediately to show what he means by the 
lump spoken of in Romans. (See verse 21.) "For 
since by man came death, by man came also the resur- 
rection of the dead." 

Let me here observe that death came by the earthly 
man, and the resurrection came by the heavenly man, 
which is in point to prove that the plan of the gospel 



256 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



is to deliver mankind from the earthly Adam to the 
immortality of the heavenly. 

Perhaps none would dispute what I here contend 
for, provided I did not extend the cure as extensively as 
the malady ; but I shall also contend for this, and will 
clearly prove it by the apostle's testimony. (See verse 
22.) "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
all be made alive." It is not possible for me to state 
the doctrine more concise and positive than the apos- 
tle has done in the passage quoted. But I am willing 
to attend to my opponent's objections as I proceed. 
He will say he does not dispute that the apostle here 
meant all mankind, but that he only intended they 
would all be raised from the dead, not that all would 
be delivered from condemnation and sin. But I will 
rest my argument on the words themselves ; I say, if 
all men are made alive in Christ, they cannot be said 
to be out of Christ dead or alive, sinful or holy. 

The present state of our being is derived from 
Adam, the earthly nature; and, in a natural sense, we 
are all in him. Our future state of existence we de- 
rive entirely from the heavenly nature; and, therefore, 
it is said all shall be made alive in Christ. The apos- 
tle goes on still further to show the order of the 
before-mentioned work, arguing, from the first fruits 
the whole family of mankind. (See 1 Cor. xv. 23, 24, 
25.) " But every man in his own order : Christ the 
first fruits ; afterwards they that are Christ's at his 
coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have 
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father: 
when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority 



! 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 257 

and power. For he must reign till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet." Christ is here again spoken 
of as the first fruits, in the order of the resurrection, 
which consists of three parts. 

First. Of Christ himself, who was the first that rose 
from the dead. 

Secondly. Those who are Christ's at his coming, 
which coming I will not endeavor to point out, as it 
makes nothing in respect to the particular argument in 
which I am at present engaged. 

Thirdly. The coming of the end, which cannot be 
until he hath put down all rule, authority and power, 
and every enemy has submitted; at which time the 
Mediator delivers up the kingdom to God the Father. 

Then shall the great work of reconciliation be 
finished, and the labors of the Redeemer completed 
with immortal honor. Then shall all the millions of 
the human race be reconciled to God through Christ, 
and shall sing; see Rev. v. 11, 12, 13, 14. "And I 
beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round 
about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders : and 
the number of them was ten thousand times ten 
thousand, and thousands of thousands ; singing with 
a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to 
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessings. And every 
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all 
that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, and honor, 
and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever. 



258 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



And the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 
twenty elders fell down, and worshipped him that 
liveth forever and ever." 

The reader will observe that ten thousand times ten 
thousand, and thousands of thousands of angels, beasts 
and elders, first declare the Lamb, who had been slain, 
to be worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessings; 
then every creature which is in heaven, and on the 
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, 
and all that are in them, say, Blessing, and honor, and 
glory, and power, be unto him who sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Then 
the elders and beasts, who first pronounced him thus 
worthy, fell down and worshipped him who liveth 
forever and ever. 

There is nothing in all the sacred writings more 
astonishingly beautiful than this account ; neither do 
I think it possible for the imagination to paint any- 
thing half so grand and sublime, I am all astonish- 
ment. To realize by faith the accomplishment of this 
glorious prediction transcends every other thought or 
idea of which the mind is susceptible. 

There is no room for my opponent to argue against 
the doctrine of universal holiness and happiness while 
this passage of divine truth lies in sight. There are 
no expressions left out of this passage that would make 
it more extensive. 

May I not ask my opposer if he be not willing to 
acknowledge what mysterious powers have acknowl- 
edged, that Christ, the dear Lamb who hath been slain, 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



259 



is worthy to receive as extensive worship as is declared 
in the passage quoted? 

When the four beasts and the elders saw universal 
nature bending before the object of their worship, 
they immediately fell down, anxious to excel, and 
worshipped him who liveth forever and ever. If my 
opponent thinks Christ is not worthy of so much wor- 
ship, he thinks less of him than I do, and less than I 
wish he did. 

There are yet remaining many passages in the 15th 
of Corinthians which are in point to prove what I am 
contending for, even more than is at this time neces- 
sary to introduce. A few more, however, may be 
proper, with some few remarks. (See verse 28.) 
"And when all things shall be subdued unto him, 
then shall the Son also himself be subject to him 
that did put all things under him, that God may be 
all in all." 

What must we understand by all things being 
subdued unto him? Will any one say all that is 
meant by it is that Christ will then have power over all 
men whereby he can reward the righteous and torment 
the wicked? When did he not possess this power? 
When were not all things in subjection to Christ 
enough for those purposes? The subjection of all 
things to Christ must mean something, and it is 
reasonable to believe that it means the reconciliation 
of the heart to holiness. Can a soul in sin, employed 
in blaspheming the Incommunicable Name, be said to be 
in subjection to Christ in any way that answers to the 
text? I do not think any will contend for it. 



260 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



The only subjection which is acceptable to Christ is 
a broken and contrite heart, which he will not despise, 
The plan, then, of the gospel is universal submission to 
Christ in holiness and happiness. 

The delivery of the kingdom of Christ to the Father 
is declared in the last clause of the passage quoted, of 
which I have before taken notice in this work, in 
order to show the dependence of Christ on the Eternal 
and Self-existent. Then, it is said, "God shall be all 
in all." In what sense will God be all in all at the 
close of the Redeemer's process that he is not now, or 
always was ? Answer, he that dwelleth in love, 
•dwelleth in God, and God in him. When all men are 
brought to love God supremely, and their fellow- 
creatures as themselves, it will then be manifest that 
w^e are nothing only as we exist in God; therefore, 
God will be all. And as the eternal spirit of love, 
which is the governing principle of the heavenly man, 
will be the governing principle of each soul thus recon- 
ciled to the law of love, it may justly be said that God 
is in all. (See verses 47, 48, 49.) " The first man is 
of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from 
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are 
earthy ; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that 
are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of 
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the 
heavenly." As we have all been partakers of the 
earthy Adam, so, the apostle argues, we shall be 
partakers, in the resurrection, of the Second Adam, 
w^hom he calls the Lord from heaven. (See verses 51, 
52, 53, 54.) "Behold, I will show you a mystery; we 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



261 



shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a 
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; 
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For 
this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this 
mortal must put on immortality. So when this cor- 
ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this 
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be 
brought to pass the saying that is written, death is 
swallowed up in victory." 

If death, sin and sorrow are to remain as long as 
God exists, how can it be said death is swallowed up 
in victory ? If the apostle believed any part of the 
family of man would finally be excluded from the 
blessings of the gospel, why did he not just hint 
something of it in this account of the close of the 
Mediatorial kingdom ? Did he consider it a matter 
of too small moment to mention ? If he did, he is 
inexcusable for precluding the idea by plain and 
positive testimony. See his conclusion, " O death ! 
where is thy sting ? O grave ! where is thy victory ? 
The sting of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is 
the law. But thanks be to Gocl, who giveth us the 
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." If sin 
remain without end, it being the sting of death, when 
the question is asked, "O death, where is thy sting?" 
sin may answer, " Here I am and here I will be in spite 
of him who undertook to destroy the works of the 
devil, and here I will boast of my power as long as he 
does of his, whom angels adore, and I hate ! " (Phil, 
iii. 21.) "Who shall change our vile body, that it 



262 



A TREATISE OX ATONEMENT, 



may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, accord- 
ing to the working whereby he is able even to subdue 
all things unto himself." Observe, " Who shall change 
our vile body." In a former quotation it is said, " we 
shall all be changed : " and in the present passage it 
is said, " whereby he is able even to subdue all things 
unto himself." In a former quotation it is said, "And 
when all things shall be subdued unto him." 

Let us hear what our blessed Lord himself says in 
respect to his mission. (St. John v. 22, 23.) " For 
the Father judgeth no man ; but hath committed all 
judgment unto the Son ; that all men should honor 
the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that 
honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which 
hath sent him." In the sense in which this passage 
was spoken, it is evident that the sinner does neither 
honor the Father nor the Son, and the plain testimony 
of the text is that all men should honor both. Com- 
pare this with Phil. ii. 9, 10, 11. " Wherefore God 
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name 
which is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus 
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things 
in earth, and things under the earth; and that every 
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
the glory of God the Father." As in the other 
passage the exaltation of the Saviour is first spoken of, 
and then the grand intention in his exaltation shown ; 
so in this ; there it is for the purpose that all men 
should honor him ; and here it is that unto him every 
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in 
earth, and things under the earth ; and that every 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



263 



tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
glory of God the Father. 

Of this glorious and soul-reviving truth the prophet 
Isaiah was not ignorant, but speaks of it most clearly 
(see chap. xlv. 22, 23, 24, 25). "Look unto me and 
be ye saved all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, 
and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the 
word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and 
shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, 
every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall say, in the 
Lord have I righteousness and strength : even to him 
shall come ; and all that are incensed against him shall 
be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel 
be justified, and shall glory." The reader will observe 
I have left out some supplied words in the above 
quotation, by which the passage reads without am- 
biguity. 

Had the inspired prophet been possessed of an accu- 
rate knowledge of the dispute in which I am engaged, 
I do not see how he could have written a sentence 
more pertinently to my argument ; and I have not a 
doubt but the Spirit intended the passage for the same 
purpose for which I have used it. 

St. Paul, in the eighth chapter of Romans, shows the 
extent of redemption in so strong terms as to admit 
of no possible evasion (v. 22, 23). "For we know 
that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in 
pain together until now. And not only they, but our- 
selves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, 
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for 
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 



264 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



If the reader will be at the trouble of examining this 
passage with its connection, that for which I contend 
will appear plainly proved by it. 

There is no end to proofs of universal reconcil- 
iation to God ; for everything of a moral nature 
testifies it, and all material nature is a figure of it. 
The ministry of reconciliation, which, St. Paul says, 
was committed to himself and others, is, that God was 
in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not 
imputing unto them their trespasses. The truth of 
Christ's dying for all is the foundation of the apostle's 
argument on this subject ; which truth, the apostle 
says, he was constrained to believe by the love of 
Christ ; for thus saith he, " The love of Christ con- 
straineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died 
for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, 
that they which live should not henceforth live unto 
themselves, but unto him which died for them, and 
rose again." (2 Cor. v. 14, etc.) 

I may as well stop here as anywhere, for as I just 
said, there is no end ; and if those Scriptures which I 
have quoted be true, that which I have endeavored 
to prove is proved ; but if they be not, more of the 
same testimony would prove nothing. 

There is but one method left for my opponent by 
which he can further oppose me ; and that is, by 
denying the whole system of divine revelation and 
man's susceptibility of rational ideas. But as that 
would equally destroy all for which he would contend, 
he will undoubtedly be cautious. 

We now see clearly that it is God's will, according 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



265 



to his eternal purpose, purposed in himself, that all 
men should finally be holy and happy; that it was the 
intention of the Saviour's mission ; that the prophets, 
by the spirit of prophecy, long foresaw this universal 
and godlike glorious plan of grace ; that every good 
principle in man stands up in testimony of so divine a 
system, that the happiness of all moral beings is 
wrapped up in the glorious issue of the ministration 
of reconciliation, and that it is, in reality, opposed by 
none, but by unreconciled beings, unholy principles, 
and unlawful desires. And shall we say that the eternal 
good will of him who dwelt in the bush must fail at 
last? .Must the testimony of the prophets fall to the 
ground? Must the captain of our salvation, who 
warred in righteousness, who reddened his garments 
in his own blood, who bore the sins of the world, and 
suffered death in agony, to obtain his lawful inheri- 
tance, be robbed of them at last ? Were this believed 
in heaven the royal diadem would fall from the head of 
him whom all heaven adores, and the highest arch- 
angel would faint away! But, blessed be the Lord, 
and blessed be his truth, its divine power shall cause 
the Leviathan of infidelity to bite the ground, shall 
rend the veil which is cast over all nations, and shall 
more and more manifest divine righteousness and the 
name in which it is found, in which name alone is sal- 
vation. In the days of the apostles, the greatest 
object in preaching the gospel of Christ was to prove 
him to be the Saviour of the world, the true Messiah 
of the law, urging that he died for all, that he made 
no distinction between Jew and Gentile, but had 



266 A TUEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 

broken down the partition-wall between them, for the 
glorious purpose of making of the twain one new man 
in everlasting fellowship and eternal peace. But how 
hath the gold changed, how hath the most fine gold 
become dim? The main apparent object, at the 
present day, is to prove the object of the Saviour's 
mission, as it respects the salvation of sinners, ex- 
tremely limited, and that but few of the human race 
will finally be the redeemed of the Lord to the praise 
of his glory; that the great adversary of righteousness 
will obtain a much larger conquest of souls than Christ 
himself; and, oh, shocking to name, eternal justice is 
profaned by being called to assist the serpent's designs 
in the endless duration of sin and rebellion against 
God ! Those whom the Lord hath blessed with a 
belief of universal holiness and hapj^iness are pro- 
scribed as heretics, infidels, offscourings of the earth, 
friends to nothing but sin, and enemies to nothing but 
God and holiness ; opening a door to licentiousness 
of every abominable species, destroyers of the pure 
religion of Christ, and nuisances to society. But is it, 
in reality, manifesting a love to sin to argue its total 
destruction by the power of divine righteousness? 
Is it manifesting enmity against God and the religion 
of Jesus to contend for the propriety of all men's 
serving him in holiness and happiness ? And are we 
nuisances to society because we endeavor to persuade 
all men to love God and one another ? Can these 
things be displeasing to him who was born in Bethle- 
hem? Will he not rather greatly bless such labors, 
though performed by those as little esteemed in the 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



267 



world as were the poor fishermen who left their nets 
and followed the despised Nazarene ? 

Let us ask a few questions. Which reflects the 
most honor on the divine character, to contend it was 
necessary for him to create millions of rational crea- 
tures to hate him and every divine communication he 
makes to them to all eternity, to live in endless rebel- 
lion against him, and endure inconceivable torments 
as long as God exists, or to suppose him able and will- 
ing to make all his rational creatures love and adore 
him, yield obedience to his divine law, and exist in 
union and happiness with himself ? ^ 

Which reflects most honor on the Saviour, to say 
that but few will obtain salvation by him, and though 
he died for all men, yet his death will benefit but few, 
or to say with the prophet, " He shall see of the trav- 
ail of his soul and be satisfied, having reconciled all 
things to God, through the peace made by the blood 
of the cross ? " 

If there be joy in heaven over one sinner that 
repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just per- 
sons who need no repentance, which would yield the 
most joy to the heavenly hosts, the repentance of one- 
fourth of mankind or the whole? If the servants of 
Christ here on earth desire the increase of holiness 
and the decrease of sin, which would be most agree- 
able to such a desire, the belief that the greatest part 
of mankind will grow more and more sinful to all 
eternity, or to believe that sin will continually de- 
crease, and righteousness increase, until the former is 
wholly destroyed and the latter becomes universal? 



268 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



To answer the above questions so as to favor my 
opponent's argument, is more than any one would be 
willing to clo; and which, if done, would involve an 
endless train of ideas too glaringly absurd to be sup- 
ported. But to answer them agreeably to the nature 
of divine truth opens to infinite beauties, more serene 
than the morning and more glorious than the noon- 
day. God, the fountain of living waters and the 
essence of eternal life, is seen by faith in Jesus the 
same to all rational beings, the author, supporter, and 
blesser of them. Christ Jesus, the head of every 
man, is beheld as the brightness of the Father's glory 
and exjiress image of his person, through whom the 
Eternal hath manifested the riches of his grace, the 
eternal councils of his love to the world, brought life 
and immortality to light, and manifested our eternal 
sonship in the second Adam. Each holy desire, as the 
fruit of the Spirit in the souls of those who believe, 
feasts on the rich promises of Abraham's God, be- 
lieving, him faithful who hath promised. Heaven hath 
already received the heave offering of the first ripe 
fruits, and the fields are w T hite, ready to harvest. O 
ye laborers in the vineyard of the Lord, be ye not 
idle. What an extensive field is here in which for 
the mind to expand and send its desires abroad ! The 
transcendent beauties of salvation have visited the 
dark regions of mortality, as light and heat from the 
vernal sun visits the cold and dark north, turning 
frozen lands into fruitful fields, taking the icy fet- 
ters from limpid streams which bend their course 
to the fountain, bringing the time of the singing 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



269 



of birds, and causing the voice of the turtle to be 
heard. 

"I am come," says Jesus, "to send a fire on the 
earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled ? " All 
the passages which allude to a dispensation of fire 
which I have observed in this work are direct evi- 
dences to prove the destruction of sin and all sinful 
works, the purification of sinners, and their eternal 
reconciliation to holiness and happiness. This fire 
will either overcome sin or be overcome by it. But 
who will argue the latter ? If none, then let the for- 
mer be acknowledged. If you say these things appear 
differently from what you expected they would before 
your inquiry, and you find something more interesting 
than tradition has taught you ; if you feel soft in 
your mind towards the so-much-despised doctrine of 
universal holiness and happiness ; if you can believe 
heaven large enough to contain mankind, and begin 
to breathe in the air of unbounded benevolence, and 
feel faith mingled with your desires for the destruc- 
tion of sin and the increase of holiness, then come 
still further. The knowledge of these things is pro- 
gressive, and obtained only by degrees. I give you 
my hand in token of love and friendship, and my heart 
in all faithfulness is yours. Let us still go on and 
view the heavenly beauties yet to be unfolded in the 
plan of the gospel. I well know there are many diffi- 
culties to be surmounted. To profess universal salva- 
tion will subject some to excommunication from regular 
churches; others to the pain of being neglected by 
their neighbors ; others to be violently opposed by 



270 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



their companions ; and in many instances, undoubtedly, 
the father will be against the son and the son against 
the father ; the mother against the daughter and the 
daughter against the mother; and a man's enemies 
may be those of his own house. But can such diffi- 
culties excuse us for not owning him who for us bore 
the cross and despised the shame ? All denominations 
since the world began have experienced some difficul- 
ties in their first establishment. Christ and his apos- 
tles wrestled hard and encountered great opposition, 
even to the loss of all earthly things, with life itself. 
Since the apostacy the denominations which arose out 
of popery have, in thousands of instances, suffered 
more than duty calls us to suffer in a land of liberty 
and toleration. But some will say there are none who 
profess the doctrine in my vicinity except some of the 
lower class of people, and if I rank myself with them 
my titles of honor will do me no good, and my road 
to the temple of fame will be forever intercepted. 
Some will say to themselves, I must believe the doc- 
trine ; I cannot argue against it, but I will say nothing 
about it lest I should be mistrusted. I would gladly 
embrace the opportunity which Nicodemus did, who 
went to Jesus by night, but to come out boldly to the 
knowledge of the world is too great a sacrifice. Says 
another, I am convinced of the truth of the doctrine, 
but I have preached so much against it, have warned 
my hearers so much to shun that heresy, I am now 
ashamed to tell them I believe it. Another feels so 
dependent on his neighbors he wishes to have them go 
forward first. All these circumstances, and many 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



271 



more, bear great weight with various persons, in vari- 
ous circumstances, causing great labor of mind, and 
those who are under such influences may be said to 
be heavy laden. I know of no better remedy for 
those cases than an attention to the exhortation of 
Christ, who said, " Come unto me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take 
my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek 
and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your 
souls ; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

The reader may judge from those circumstances 
whether this doctrine be pleasing to the carnal mind, 
as its enemies say. Was it pleasing to the Pharisees 
of old to be taught by Christ and his disciples that 
publicans and harlots should enter the kingdom of 
heaven before them? Yes, just as pleasing to their 
carnal minds as it is to a professed preacher of Christ, 
who can thank God that he is better than other men, 
to tell him that those upon whom he looks as much 
viler than himself stand in no more need of pardon 
than he does. St. Paul, before his conversion to 
Christianity, undoubtedly looked on the doctrine of 
Christ to be exactly calculated to please wicked men, 
as the most part of those who were disciplined by it 
were publicans and sinners, and he well knew that the 
foundation of their hope was the forgiveness of sin. 
This he despised, as did many of his equals in the 
Jewish religion; feeling themselves whole, they felt 
no need of a physician. They supposed the gospel to 
be a doctrine every way calculated to vitiate and im- 
moralize mankind. Undoubtedly the Pharisees often 



272 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT, 



said of the disciples of Christ, their religion is per- 
fectly suited to their characters ; they are sinners and 
know not the law, and they have contrived a very 
easy way to get to heaven. But if we ask St. Paul, 
after his conversion, what he thought of these things, 
he would undoubtedly give a very different account. 
For when the Lord met him in the way, and gave him 
to understand his real character, and what he was 
doing, he was astonished, and fell to the earth. His 
sins were set in order before him, and his soul was 
greatly troubled. In this situation, he learned the 
necessity of the doctrine which he had despised, expe- 
rienced the necessity of its pardoning mercy, and 
became as willing to endure persecution for its sake 
as he had been to persecute it before. 

When it is understood that gospel salvation is salva- 
tion from carnal-mindedness and all its relative ills, to 
a reconciliation to the law of the spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus, if all men were thus saved, it would not be 
argued that it is pleasing to the carnal mind. As the 
doctrine for which I contend is entirely the reverse of 
carnal-mindedness, so it is equally opposed to licen- 
tiousness ; for what can be a stronger restraint on the 
passions than a belief in God's universal goodness, 
and that all men are the objects of his mercy? Such 
a belief, when it has its proper effects in the mind, 
raises a supreme affection for God, and kindles the 
sacred fire of love and unbounded benevolence to 
mankind. If any would dispute me on my statement 
of the consequences of this faith, I have greatly the 
advantage. As my opponent does not possess this 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 273 



faith, he cannot tell the effects of it so well as one 
can who does. However, I will not make use of that 
advantage, having argument in my power that is more 
than sufficient. Let my adversary state his argument, 
that we may see the strength of it. The fact is, he 
has no argument ; he can only assert, "the doctrine is 
not productive of love to God or man, but the reverse, 
and if he believed it he would commit every sin that 
was in his power." Is it hard to see that my opponent 
has made a very fair and full profession of his love to 
sin in room of his love to God, and a strong desire to 
injure his fellow-men in room of serving them in love? 
What was the elder brother angry for ? At what did 
he grumble ? And why did he refuse to go into his 
father's house ? Because the father had received the 
prodigal and treated him kindly. At what did the 
laborers grumble who bore the burden and heat of the 
day? Because those who had wrought but one hour 
received as much as they, and received their money 
first. At what did the Pharisees and scribes murmur 
when they saw all the publicans and sinners come to 
Jesus to hear him? Because he did not condemn 
them to hopeless despair, but kindly received them. 
At what do my opposers rage? At what are they 
dissatisfied? Not because I exclude them from any 
privilege or blessing of the gospel. What then? I 
am sorry to name it. It is because I extend those 
blessings further, and hope they will do more good 
than what suits them ! 

As the doctrine of universal holiness and happiness 
opens an infinite field in which for the mind to expa- 



274 



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tiate, and learn the goodness of God in all his works 
and providence, it is the most animating to a benevo- 
lent soul of any that was ever believed in our world, 
and lays the broadest foundation for exhortation to 
deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live sober, 
righteous, and godly lives. How strong are the induce- 
ments, from such glorious views of God and his mercy, 
to lead us to imitate such unbounded goodness in all 
our intentions and actions. And being fully convinced 
that our happiness is in union with our duty, those 
who fully believe in the consequences of atonement, as 
I have argued them, will see the propriety of my 
endeavoring to stir up their pure minds by way of 
remembrance, exhorting them to good works in all 
faithfulness, in whatever situation duty may call us, or 
whatever the part may be which our heavenly Father 
hath called us to act in his divine and delightsome 
service. The duty enjoined on the believer of this 
doctrine is as much more extensive than the duty 
enjoined by any other faith as the faith itself is more 
extensive ; and its delights are so likewise. If a poor 
man was offered a thousand pounds for a day's labor 
it would undoubtedly be a very strong inducement to 
him to labor. But, it is to be observed, in this case, 
that it is not the labor itself which is the object, but 
the large sum of money with which the laborer expects 
to be rewarded. It is not the labor in which the man 
delights ; could he obtain his money without the work 
it would be his choice. But when the labor itself is 
all the enjoyment, and the whole object is obedience, 
the laborer will not wish the time short or the duty 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



275 



small; no, eternity is none too long for the soul to 
contemplate laboring in the endless delights of obedi- 
ence to his God. 

Those who believe a future state of happiness 
depends on certain duties performed by them un- 
doubtedly intend to do those duties some time before 
they die; and it is often said that a procrastination of 
those duties on which so much depends is dangerous, 
as life is uncertain ; yet they had rather let it alone 
until old age deprives them of the common comforts of 
life ; at which time they may about as w T ell be employed 
in the dull and disagreeable task of being good as any- 
thing else. But those who consider their duty as their 
meat and drink ought not to need much inviting to 
feed on dainties so rich. We should hardly believe a 
man to be in his right mind who, for eating a good 
meal of victuals, should charge the price of it. "In 
keeping thy commandments there is great reward." 
By these observations the reader will see how needful 
it is for us at all times to attend to our duty, because 
" now is the accepted time, and now is the day of 
salvation;" to every willing and obedient soul who 
feels the power of atoning grace salvation is present. 
Truly it is said of wisdom, "She hath builded her 
house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars : she hath 
killed her beasts ; she hath mingled her wine ; she 
hath also furnished her table." God, in infinite wis- 
dom, has constituted all moral beings so that their 
duty is their happiness, and strict obedience fulness of 
joy. Why, then, my brethren, shall we starve? Why 
live poor? Why should we be so parsimonious of 



276 



A TREATISE OK ATONEMENT. 



those heavenly stores that can never be exhausted ? 
" Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness, for they shall be filled." " Ask, and ye shall 
receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall 
be opened unto you." God forbids none; u the Spirit 
and the bride say, come ; and let him that heareth, 
say, come; and whoever will, let him take of the 
fountain of the water of life freely." Remember the 
salvation which God wills is a salvation ' from sin. 
Then, as much as you desire salvation, you will wish to 
avoid sin and wickedness. There are none who would 
say they did not want salvation ; but how many are 
there who say they want it by their own conduct ! 
No man understandingly wants salvation any further 
than he wants more holiness. 

The Universalist, who is really so, prizes his duty 
as his heaven, as his peace, and his most sublime 
enjoyment. How, then, shall we be so lost, so blind, 
and so deceived as to wish to shun our duty and 
our happiness ? If we really believe those things, 
and desire that others may be brought to see and 
believe the same, let us endeavor, in the first place, 
to prove to all men that such a belief is of real 
-service in cultivating our morals and in regulating 
our behavior. And, secondly, by using our abilities 
as God hath given, in cool dispassionate reasoning, 
with those who do not believe ; contending for 
nothing but the pure principles of love, in meekness 
and all gentleness. Never argue for will sake, nor for 
mastery: and, shunning every appearance of sophistry, 
never suffer yourselves to be anxious about the issue 



A TEEATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



277 



of conversation ; but speak the words of truth and 
soberness, and leave the event to be directed by the 
spirit of God. Falsehood is so apt to detect itself 
that an argument is generally best conducted when 
the disputant is refuted by consequences arising from 
his own statements: and if he cannot see and under- 
stand them for himself, it will do no good to see 
them for him. If we can see for ourselves we do 
well. If the Lord of the harvest hath graciously 
been pleased to call you by his grace to preach the 
word of his gospel to his purchased possession ; to 
sound abroad the trumpet of salvation, and to feed 
the sheep and lambs of the one true shepherd, then 
remember that it is required of stewards that they are 
found faithful. St. Paul declared himself a debtor 
both to the Greeks and Barbarians, to the wise and 
the unwise. He having received a dispensation of the 
gospel, the grace of which belonged to all men, he 
thereby became a debtor to all: And if we have 
received a dispensation of the same gospel, we are 
debtors to all whom this gospel concerns. How 
happy is a friend who has good news to communicate 
to his companions : and surely it is an office much to 
be desired to carry good news to the distressed. See 
the officer when he reads a pardon to one who expects 
immediate death : his soul bursts through his eyes in 
streams of joy while he pronounces the words which 
give life to the dead. But how much more excellent 
are the labors of those whose feet are beautiful on the 
mountains, who publish peace in the Redeemer's name, 
even glad tidings unto all people. Much watchfulness 



278 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



is necessary, lest the law of the carnal or old man gets 
the government of the mind. I will venture to say, 
there never was a preacher more ready, on all occa- 
sions, than the old man which we are exhorted to put 
off ; he is willing at all times to assist, never waiting 
to be called. He has no objections to preaching about 
Christ, if Christ be not preached. He is perfectly 
willing to say that salvation is all of God, and that 
Christ is a whole Saviour ; but, then, it is indispens- 
ably necessary that he should do something, such as 
asking, seeking, knocking ; or, if it be only accepting of 
offered mercy, is all he wants. It may be, the reader 
will wonder a little at what I here say, as I have just 
quoted the exhortation, to ask, to seek, to knock, etc. ; 
but I wish to be understood that we must ask, seek, 
and knock, not in the name or nature of the earthly 
Adam, but in the name and nature of the heavenly 
man. The old serpent, the devil, is never better 
pleased than when he can do something which he 
thinks lays God under some obligation to him. If the 
carnal or old man get so baffled as to be reduced to 
give up his influence respecting our eternal life in 
Jesus, he will immediately propose, in his struggles, 
that all he can do is to insure a blessed state for some 
considerable time after we die, say, for a thousand 
years, or any given time; then all must depend on the 
Saviour. If the earthly Adam can get us up Jacob's 
ladder a few steps, he is willing that Christ should do 
something by and by. Now, the object of all those de- 
vices, of which we are not ignorant (as St. Paul says) 
is to keep us in the service of the flesh ; but remember 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



279 



he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap cor- 
ruption. A Pharisee, who feels as if something was 
coming to him more than others receive, perhaps will 
not be scrupulous about the exact quantity. He only 
wishes to have proper attention paid him ; if he can 
flatter himself with a higher seat in heaven than those 
are to have on whom he looks as worse than himself 
it satisfies his carnal pride. Perhaps a period of pun- 
ishment for sinners, after death, in which they may be 
justly corrected for not being so good and holy as this 
Pharisee, would give him much satisfaction. He 
would then be willing to have the poor wretches 
delivered from absolute misery and enjoy some small 
conveniences. Oh, how hard it is to be a humble 
disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus! It is death to 
carnal mind. If I preach the gospel all my life long, 
spend all my time and strength for the good of man- 
kind and the honor of my Saviour, shall I not have 
something more hereafter than one who has mocked - 
and derided me? Answer, if I have, in truth and 
meekness, preached Christ, and have been faithful in 
his cause, ought I not to be thankful that he has 
enabled me so to do? Have I been the loser unless 
I am paid in the world to come, by having some privi- 
lege granted me which another may not enjoy ? Oh, 
blush, my soul, if thy follies rise so high. JSTo, every 
moment's faithfulness has been supplied with streams 
of divine consolation ; and it ought to be remembered 
that the preacher never refreshes others unless he him- 
self is refreshed. If I have professed to preach Christ, 
but have preached myself in room of him, undoubtedly 



280 A TEEATISE ON ATONE31ENT. 

I may think there is something coming, as my living 
has been very poor while I have thus labored ; but the 
truth is my reward has been equal to my service. I 
am willing to acknowledge that carnal mind often 
contends that I have done so well, I ought, in conse- 
quence, to expect high approbations ; and I begin to 
look down on those whom I fancy of less magnitude. 
But, oh, the viperous sting ! Well might an apostle 
say, "I find a law in my members warring against the 
law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law 
of sin which is in my members." Says the same 
apostle, " Unto me, who am less than the least of all 
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among 
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Upon 
what high advantages did he calculate above those 
who were much less in labor than himself? 

But, says the reader, will not St. Paul fare better 
than the worst of sinners in eternity? Judge from 
^what he says : " This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." The 
more humble we are the greater our enjoyments. 
But when all are completely humbled, and perfectly 
reconciled ; when all old things are done away, and all 
things become new; when he who sitteth upon the 
throne maketh all things new in deed and in truth, I 
believe all strife concerning who shall be great in the 
kingdom of heaven will be at an end. Ye who 
preach righteousness in the great congregations of the 
people, forget not the exhortation of the Captain of 
our salvation, "Learn of me." What good will all 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



281 



our labors do unless we learn of Christ? If we learn 
of him, he will be unto us wisdom, righteousness, 
sanctification, and redemption, and we shall preach, 
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves 
the servants of the people, for Jesus' sake. Remem- 
ber, again, the exhortation of him who is the leader 
and commander of the people, "Search the Scrip- 
tures." Make yourselves acquainted with, and have 
free recourse to, this great storehouse of divine riches, 
that you maybe ready to "deal a portion to seven, 
and also to eight." " Ye are the salt of the earth." 
As salt preserves and seasons meats so that they are 
acceptable, so ought the ministers of righteousness to 
endeavor, as far as possible, to preserve mankind from 
sin, that they may be acceptable members of the church 
of Christ. "But if the salt have lost its savor, where- 
with shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for 
nothing: but to be cast out and trodden under foot of 
men." We cannot be profitable to others unless we 
have the savor of the Spirit within us. This lost and 
we are good for nothing, and in room of having a 
mouth, and wisdom, to put gain say ers to silence, we 
shall be overcome by them, and they will tread us 
under their feet. "Contend earnestly for the faith 
once delivered to the saints," but be sure to remember 
that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but 
spiritual, and mighty through God." Carnal mind 
frequently urges the necessity of contending earnestly 
for the faith once delivered to the saints, but then we 
must contend in a coat of mail, and with the weapons 
of him who sought the life of the Son of Jesse. Be 



282 A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



prepared to meet every kind of opposition. We must 
be attacked on every side. The adversary will not 
leave one stone unturned, nor a weapon in his armor 
untried. Be cautious of any system of divinity. 
Remember "the path of the just is a shining light, 
which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
The moment we fancy ourselves infallible, every one 
must come to our peculiarities or we cast them away. 
Even the truth may be held in unrighteousness. 
Daniel's God was undoubtedly the true God, but I do 
not conceive Darius any more the real friend of that 
God when he made a decree that all people should 
worship him, than he was when he made the decree 
that no petition should be asked of any God or man 
for thirty days, save of himself. The cause of truth 
w^ants nothing in its service but the fruits of the 
Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, 
faith, meekness, and temperance. All the divisions 
and subdivisions which now exist among Christians, 
or ever have existed, were caused wholly by the want 
of those graces. Should we be tenacious about cer- 
tain sentiments and peculiarities of faith, the time is 
not far distant when Universalists, who have suffered 
every kind of contemptuous treatment from the ene- 
mies of the doctrine, will be at war among themselves, 
and be trodden under foot of the Gentiles. Having 
begun in the Spirit, do not think to be made perfect 
by the flesh. In order to imitate our Saviour, let us, 
like him, have compassion on the ignorant, and those 
whom we view to be out of the way. Attend to the 
exhortation, "Let brotherly love continue." If Ave 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



283 



agree in brotherly love, there is no disagreement that 
can do us any injury, but if we do not, no other 
agreement can do us any good. Let us keep a strict 
guard against the enemy "that sows discord among 
brethren." Let us endeavor to "keep the unity of 
the Spirit in the bonds of peace." May charity, that 
heaven-born companion of the human heart, never 
forsake us; and may the promise of the Saviour be 
fulfilled concerning us, " Lo, I am with you, even unto 
the end of the world." 

You have now, kind reader, cast your eye over these 
pages; perhaps you feel to say, "the doctrine of uni- 
versal holiness and happiness cannot be true, notwith- 
standing all the author has said in favor of it ; " and 
if so, I condemn you not. The time has been when I 
believed as little of the doctrine as you now do; I 
never adopted the belief of universal holiness and 
happiness out of choice, but from the force of real or 
supposed evidence. And I know you cannot believe 
it on any other ground. I hope, however, you feel no 
enmity to so glorious a system of God's grace ; I hope 
you have the spirit of Christ, and wish well to man- 
kind. I have, be sure, great consolation in believing 
that my Redeemer has many faithful servants and 
loving disciples in the world who do not believe in the 
extensiveness of salvation as I do, and I often take 
great satisfaction in feasts of charity with such 
brethren. St. Peter was undoubtedly a lover of 
Christ and his gospel before he was taught by the sea 
of Joppa to call no man common or unclean. The 
rest of the disciples who were dissatisfied with his 



284 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, were 
doubtless possessed of the spirit of Christ, which 
caused them to glorify God when they had more 
extensive views of the gospel through Peter's com- 
munications. As far as I see men' walk in the spirit 
of love to God and one another I feel an union with 
them, whether their particular sentiments are mine or 
not. Men cannot believe at will; we believe as 
evidence appears to our mind. The times have been 
wiien each denomination has been proscribed and, in 
some measure, persecuted. Each as it rose has been 
censured by those who could not fall in with their 
doctrine ; and what does all this condemning one 
another prove, only the imperfections of all, and the 
badness of the human heart? You will not think evil 
of me, kind reader, if I exhort you not to feel too hard 
against what you may find to be your duty to acknowl- 
edge. It grieved Peter when his Lord asked him the 
third time if he loved him, as he had denied him 
thrice. There are many Universalists now who have 
frequent occasion to confess how hard they have been 
against the doctrine, and how much they have spoken 
unadvisedly with their lips against what they now 
rejoice to believe is truth, and humbly adore the 
Saviour of sinners for opening their eyes to behold 
such unspeakable beauties. If you attend to the 
exhortation, to grow in grace, and in the knowledge 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, undoubtedly you may see 
more of the riches of his goodness than you now do. 
The prophet Ezekiel's knowledge of the holy waters 
was progressive, and obtained by degrees. When he 



A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



285 



was first led into the waters they were only to his 
ankles ; but he went still further and they were to his 
knees ; he went still further and they were to his loins ; 
he w^ent further and the waters were risen, waters for 
men to swim in, a river that no man could pass. 
Had the prophet refused to travel in these waters 
after he first entered them he would not have known 
nor believed them to be so multitudinous as they were. 
A soul, in the earliest moments of heavenly love, is 
first unspeakably charmed with the untold beauties 
and graces of his Redeemer; next, wife, children, 
father, mother, brothers, sisters, all friends, directly 
enemies, and finally all mankind are embraced in the 
extended arms of heavenly love and divine benevolence. 

I close this work, humbly hoping and expecting the 
glorious increase and extensive growth of what I have 
(though feebly) contended for ; namely, the holiness 
and happiness of mankind. I look w T ith strong expec- 
tation for that period when all sin and every degree 
of unreconciliation will be destroyed by the divine 
power of that love which is stronger than death, which 
many waters cannot quench, nor the floods drown ; in 
which alone I put my trust, and in which my hope is 
anchored for all mankind ; earnestly praying that the 
desire of the righteous may not be cut off. 

The fulness of times will come, and the times of the 
the restitution of all things will be accomplished. 
Then shall truth be victorious, and all error flee to 
eternal night. Then shall universal songs of honor be 
sung to the praise of him who liveth forever and ever. 
All death, sorrow and crying, shall be done away ; 



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A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT. 



pains and disorders shall b no more felt, temptations 
no more trouble the lovers of God, nor sin poison the 
human heart. The blessed hand of the once crucified 
shall wipe tears from off all faces. O, transporting 
thought ! Then shall the blessed Saviour see of the 
travail of his soul, and be satisfied, when, through his 
mediation, universal nature shall be brought in perfect 
union with truth and holiness, and the spirit of God 
fill all rational beings. Then shall the law of the 
spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which maketh free from 
the law of sin, become the governing principle of the 
whole man once made subject to vanity, once enthralled 
in darkness, sin and misery, but then delivered from 
the bondage of corruption, and restored to perfect 
reconciliation to God in the heavenly Adam. Then 
shall the great object of the Saviour's mission be 
accomplished. Then shall the question be asked, " O 
death, where is thy sting ? " But death shall not be to 
give the answer. And, " O grave, where is thy victory ?" 
But the boaster shall be silent. The Son shall deliver 
up the kingdom to God the Father ; the eternal radi- 
ance shall smile, and God shall be all in all. 



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